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KING'S MOUNTAIN

AND

ITS HEROES:

HISTORY OF THE

Battle of King's Mountain,

OCTOBER 7TH, 1780,

AND THE

EVENTS WHICH LED TO IT,

LYMAN C. DRAPER, LL. D..

Secretary of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin, and member of various Historical
and Antiquarian Societies of the Country.

WITH STEEL PORTRAITS, MAPS, AND PLANS.

DAUBER 6C PINE BOOKSHOPS, Inc.

NEW YORK CITY
1929

l88l.
BY PETER G. THOMSON.

INTRODUCTION.

WITH the siege and fall of Charleston, early in 1780, the rude
shocks of war were transferred from the Northern and Middle
States to the Carolinas and Georgia. Gates, the victor of Saratoga,
was sent to command the Southern army ; but his lucky star failed him,
and he was disastrously routed near Camden, and the gallant Sumter
shortly after surprised at Fishing Creek. Gloom and dismay overspread
the whole Southern country. Detachments from the victorious British
army were scattered throughout the settlements; and the rebellious
Colonies of the Carolinas and Georgia were reported to the Home
Government as completely humiliated and subdued. Ferguson, one of
the ablest of the Royal commanders, was operating on the western
borders of the Carolinas, enticing the younger men to his standard,
and drilling them for the Royal service.

At this gloomy period, when the cause of Liberty seemed prostrate
and hopeless in the South, the Whig border leaders, Campbell, Shelby,
Sevier, Cleveland, Lacey, Williams, McDowell, Winston, Hambright,
Hawthorn, Brandon, Chronicle, Hammond, and their compeers, mar-
shalled their clans, united their forces, overwhelming Ferguson and his
motley followers, crushing out all Tory opposition, and making the
name of Kings Mountain famous in our country's history. This
remarkable and fortunate battle deserves a full and faithful record.
The story of its heroes has in it much to remind us of an epic or a
romance. They were a remarkable race of men, and played no incon-
siderable a part in the long and sanguinary struggle for American
Independence. Reared on the outskirts of civilization, they were early
inured to privations and hardships, and when they went upon the " war-
path," they often obtained their commissaries' supplies from the wild

8 I I 266

iv INTRODUCTION.

woods and mountain streams of the region where they carried on their
successful operations.

As early as 1839, ^e collection of materials was commenced for
this work. Three of the lingering survivors of King's Mountain were
visited by the writer of this volume, and their varied recollections noted
down — James Sevier, of Tennessee, John Spelts and Silas McBee, of
Mississippi; and Benjamin Sharp, of Missouri, and William Snodgrass,
of Tennessee, were reached by correspondence.

The gathering at King's Mountain in 181 5, to collect and re-inter
the scattered remains of those who fell in the conflict was limited in
attendance. In 1855, the seventy-fifth anniversary was appropriately
celebrated, with Gen. John S. Preston, and Hon. George Bancroft as the
speakers. But it remained for October seventh, 1880, to eclipse the
others, in a Centennial celebration, when thousands of people assembled,
making a memorable civic and military display, with an address by Hon.
John W. Daniel, and poems by Paul H. Hayne and Mrs. Clara Dargan
McLean. Then followed the unvailing of a massive granite monument
having a base of eighteen feet square, and altogether a height of twenty-
eight feet. It slopes from the upper die to the top, which is about two
and half feet square, capable of further addition, or to be crowned with
a suitable statue. Inscriptions are cut on marble slabs, imbedded two
inches in the granite masonry.

This worthy King's Mountain Centennial very naturally excited
much interest in the minds of the public regarding the battle itself, and
its heroic actors, and prompted the writer to set about the preparation
of his long-promised work. Beside the materials collected in former
years — in ante bellum days — more than a thousand letters were written,
seeking documents, traditions, description of historic localities, and the
elucidation of obscure statements. Old newspaper files of the Library
of Congress, Philadelphia Library Company, and of the Maryland and
the Wisconsin Historical Societies, have been carefully consulted, and
information sought from every possible source in this country, England
and the British Colonies. Truth alone has been the writer's aim, and
conclusions reached without prejudice, fear or favor.

The following deceased persons, who were either related to, or had
personal intercourse with, King's Mountain men, kindly contributed in
years agone, valuable materials for this work :

THE NEW MONUMENT, KING'S MOUNTAIN.

ov vrtE

UNWtRS

rTY OF WHO©

INTR OD UCTION. v

Ex-Gov. David Campbell, of Virginia; Hon. Hugh L. White, Col. Wm. Martin, Ex.
Gov. Wm. B. Campbell, Col. George Wilson, Col. George Christian, Maj. John Sevier, Jr.,
Col. Geo. W. Sevier, and Mrs. Eliza W. Warfield, of Tennessee; Hon. Jos. J. Mc-
Dowell, of Ohio ; Maj. Thos. H. Shelby, of Kentucky; Hon. Elijah Callaway, Dr. James
Callaway, Hugh M. Stokes, Shadrack Franklin, Silas McDowell, Adam and James J.
Hampton, of North Carolina; Hon. Wm. C. Preston, Gen. John S. Preston, Dr. M. A.
Moore, D. G. Stinson, Jeremiah Cleveland, Mrs. Sallie Rector, Dr. A. L. Hammond, and
Abraham Hardin, of South Carolina; Gen. Ben. Cleveland, of Georgia; and Dr. Alex-
ander Q. Bradley, of Alabama.

Special acknowledgements are due to the following persons.

Tennessee :— Dr. J. G. M. Ramsey, Rev. Dr. D. C. Kelley, Hon. J. M. Lea, Anson
Nelson, Hon. W. B. Carter, Col. H. L. Claiborne, Mrs. Mary A. Trigg, John F. Watkins
Thos. A. Rogers, and Col. H. A. Brown.

Virginia:— "R. A. Brock, Hon. A. S. Fulton, W. G. G. Lowry, John L. Cochran, and
Col. T. L. Preston.

North Carolina:— Tir. C. L. Hunter, Col. J. R. Logan, W. L. Twitty, Dr. R. F
Hackett. Col. Wm. Johnston, Hon. W. P. Bynum, Dr. W. J. T. Miller, Mrs. Mary A.
Chambers, Hon. S. McDowell Tate, Col. W. W. Lenoir, Mrs. R. M. Pearson, W. M.
Reinhardt, Hon. J. C. Harper, Hon. C. A. Cilly, Miss A. E. Henderson, Dr. G. W.
Michal. Wm. A. McCall, Rev. W. S. Fontaine, W. S. Pearson, T. A. Bouchelle, John
Banner, J. L. Worth, Dr. T. B. Twitty, M. O. Dickerson, A. D. K. Wallace, John Gilkey,
A. B. Long, Dr. J. H. Gilkey, Hon. J. M. Cloud, Rev. W. S. Bynum, J. C. Whitson, Geo.
F. Davidson. Mrs. R. C. Whitson. Miss N. M. McDowell. Miss A. M. Woodfin. James E.
Reynolds, Lewis Johnson. G. W. Crawford, W. H. Allis, Thos. D. Vance. Dr. J. C. New-
land, W. M. McDowell, Rev. E. F. Rockwell, D. Burgin. A. Burgin, Wylie Franklin,
James Gwyn, Jesse Yates, Dr. L. Harrill, John H. Roberts, Mrs. M. V. Adams, Mrs. P.
E. Callaway, Dr. B. F. Dixon, and Mrs. M. M. Thruston.

South Carolina: — Rev. James H. Saye. Ex-Gov. B. F. Perry. Hon. Simpson Bobo,
N. F. Walker, A. H. Twichell. Mrs. Edward Roach, Gen. A. C. Garlington. D. K. Craw-
ford, Hon. John B. Cleveland, Elijah Keese, James Seaborn, and J. T. Pool.

Georgia:— Y>r. J. H. Logan, Gen. W. S. Wofford, W. T. Hackett, and A. N. Simpson.

Alabama : — Rev. Z. H. Gordon, Col. J. H. Witherspoon, and Mrs. Lewis E. Parsons.

Mississippi:- J. R. Hill.

Arkansas :— Gen. D. H. Hill.

Missouri : — Dr. A. N. Kincannon.

Kentucky :— Isaac Shelby, Jr., and Col. H. H. McDowell.

Illinois : — Sprague White.

Ohio:— Mrs. Jennie McDowell Stockton.

Wisconsin : — Hon. John A. Bentley.

Pennsylvania :— G. R. Hildeburn.

New York:— Gen. J. Watts DePeyster, and Geo. H. Moore, LL. D.

Maryland: — Miss Josephine Seaton.

Washington :— Col. J. H. Wheeler, and Hon. D. R. Goodloe.

England :— Viscount Holmesdale, Col. Geo. A. Ferguson, and Alfred Kingston.

New Brunswick:—]. De Lancey Robinson.

Nova Scotia : — George Taylor.

Ontario .—Rev. Dr. E. Ryerson.

vi INTR OD UCTION.

While in the long years past the materials for this work have been
collected, ample facts and documents have also been gathered for a
continuation of similar volumes, of which this is the commencement — to
be called, perhaps, the Border Series, embracing, in their sweep, the
whole frontier from New York and Canada to the gulf of Mexico —
Sumter and his Men — Pickens and the Battle of Cowpens — Life and
Campaigns of Gen. George Rogers Clark — Boone and the Pioneers
of Kentucky — Kenton and his Adventures — Brady and his Scouts —
Mecklenburg and its Actors — Tecumseh, the Shawanoe Leader — Brant,
the Mohawk Chief— and a volume on Border Forays and Adventures.
If there is a demand for these works, they will be forthcoming.

Should Kings Mountain and its Heroes be received with favor, and
regarded as shedding new light on an interesting portion of our revolu-
tionary history, not a little of the credit is deservedly due to the
enterprising publisher, Peter G. Thomson, who warmly encouraged
the undertaking, and has spared no pains in bringing it before the
public in a style at once tasteful and attractive.

Madison, Wis., September i, 1881.

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

CHAPTER I.

1765 to May, 1780.

Causes of the Revolution. — Alternate Successes and Disasters of the
Early Campaign of the War. — Siege and Reduction of Charleston.

CHAPTER II.

May, 1780.

Further Incidents Connected with the Siege. — Tyranny of the British
Leaders. — Subjugation of South Carolina.

CHAPTER III.

1741 to May, 1780.

Early Life of Patrick Ferguson. — Brandy wine Battle — Refrains from
Shooting Washington. — Wounded. — Conducts Little Egg Harbor
Expedition. — Nearly Killed by an Accidental Attack by his own
Friends. — Biggon Bridge and Monk's Corner Affair. — Resents In-
sults to Ladies. — Siege of Charleston.

CHAPTER IV.

1780— May— July.

Colonel Ferguson sent to the District of Ninety Six. — Organizing the
Local Militia. — Major Hanger s Account of the up-country Inhabi-
tants— his own bad reputation. — Ferguson s seductive promises to the
people. — The Tory, David Fanning. — Ferguson's adaptation to his
Mission — Mrs. Jane Thomas' Adventure. — Colonel Thomas repels

vii

viii TABLE OF CONTENTS.

a Tory assault at Cedar Spring. — Ferguson advances to Fair For-
est.— Character of the Tories — Stories of their plunderings. — Col-
onels Clarke and Jones of Georgia — the latter surprises a Tory
Camp — Dunlap and Mills attack McDowells Camp on North
Pacolet. — Captain Hampton s pursuit and defeat of the Tories.

CHAPTER V.

1780— July— August.

McDowell sends for the Over- Mountain Men. — Clarke joins him, and
pushes on to Sumter s Camp. — Capture and Escape of Captain
Patrick Moore. — Moore s Plunderers. — Story of Jane Mcjmikin
and Bill Haynesworth. — Shelby and the Mountaineers arrive at
McDowell's Camp. — Capture of Thicketty Fort. — Expedition to
Brown s Creek atid-Fair Forest. — Fight at the Peach Orchard, near
Cedar Spring, and Wqfford's Iron Works, and its Incidents. —
Saye's Account of the Action. — British Report. — Contradictory
Statements concerning the Conflict.

CHAPTER VI.

1780— August 18.

Musgrove' s Mill Expedition and Battle. — Rencontre of the Patrol Par-
ties.— British Alarm. — Information of the Enemy s Reinforcement.

— Whigs throw up Breast-works. — Captain Inman's Stratagem. —
Enemy drawn into the Net prepared for them. — Desperate Fight-
ing.— Innes and other British Leaders Wounded. — Tory Colonel
Clary's Escape. — Captain Inman Killed. — The Retreat and the
Rout. — Incidents at the Ford. — Sam Moore 's Adventure. — The Brit-
ish and Tory Reserve. — A British Patrol Returns too late to share
in the Battle. — Burial of the Slain. — Length and Severity of the
Action. — Respective Losses. — News of Gates' Defeat — its Influence.

— Whigs' Retreat. — Anecdote of Paul Hinson. — The Prisoners. —
Williams' Reward. — Comwallis' Confession. — Comparison of Au-
thorities.

CHAPTER VII.

1780 — Summer and Autumn.

Incidents of the Up-country — Major Edward Musgrove. — Paddy Carr
and Beaks Musgrove. — The Story of Mary Musgrove. — Samuel

TABLE OF CONTENTS. ix

Clowney's adventure. — William Kennedys Forays Against the
Tories. — Joseph Hughes' Escape. — William Sharp Bagging a
British and Tory Party. — Tories' Attack on Woods, and how dearly
he sold his life. — Plundering Sam Brown.

CHAPTER VIII.

August, 1780— March, 1781.

Cornwallis' Hanging Propensities. — Sumter a thorn in his Lordship's
side. — Dispersion of Whig Bands. — Ferguson's Success in Training
the Loyal Militia. — Action of the Alarmed Tory Leaders. — Ferguson
Moves into Try on County. — Colonel Graham Repels a Party of Plun-
derers.— Ruse for Saving Whig Stock. — Mrs. Ly tie and her Beaver
Hat. — Engagement on Cane Creek, aud Major Dunlap wounded. —
Apprehension of Jonathan Hampton. — Dunlap 's Insolence. — Sketch
of Dunlap 's Career and Death.

CHAPTER IX.

July— October, 1780.

Gathering of the King's Mountain Clans. — Williams' failure to get com-
mand of Sumter's men — his tricky treatment of Sumter. — Fergu-
son sends a threat to the Over-Mountain Men. — Shelby s patriotic
efforts to turn the scales on Ferguson. — Sevier, McDowell, Hamp-
ton and Cajnpbell unite in the Enterprise — Cleveland invited to
join them. — Sevier's success in providing Supplies for the Expedition.
— Rendezvous at the Sycamore Shoals. — Preparations for the March.
— Parson Doak commends the men to the protection of the Good
Father. — Their March over the mountains. — Joined by Cleveland
and Winston. — Campbell chosen to the Chief Command. — Mc-
Dowell's mission for a General Officer.

CHAPTER X.

September— October, 1780.

Further gathering of the King's Mountain Men. — Williams' North
Carolina Recruits. — Movements of Sumter s Force under Hill and
Lacey. — Troubles with Williams. — March to Flint Hill. — The

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

Mountaineers at their South Mountain Camp. — Patriotic Appeals
of the Officers to their Men. — Resume of Ferguson s Operations in
the Upper Catawba Valley. — Alarming Intelligence of the Ap-
proach of the Back Water Men. — Why Ferguson Tarried so long
on the Frontiers. — British Sche?ne of Suppressing the Rebellion by
the Gallows. — Ferguson Flees from Gilbert Town. — Sends Messen-
gers for aid to Comwallis and Cruger. — Frenzied Appeal to the
Tories. — Ferguson's Breakfast Stolen by Saucy Whigs. — His
Flight to Tate's Ferry. — Dispatch to I^ord Comwallis. — Takes
Post on King's Mountain, and Descriptio7i of it.~Motives for Ling-
ering there.

CHAPTER XI.

October, 1780.

Uncertainty of Ferguson' s Route of Retreat. — A small party of Georgians
join the Mountain Me?i. — Whig forces over-estimated. — Report of a
Patriot Spy from Fergusons Camp. — Williams' atte?npt to Mislead
the Mountaineers. — Lacey sets them Right. — The South Carolinians
treatmetit of Williams. — Selecting the fittest Men at Green river to
pursue Ferguson. — Arrival at the Cowpens. — The Tory, Saunders
— his ignorance of Ferguson, his Beeves and his Corn. — Story of
Kerr, the cripple Spy — Gibner, the cunning Scout, duping the
Tories. — The Cowpens Council, further selection of Pursuers, and
their Number. — Night March to Cherokee Ford. — Straying of Camp-
bells Men. — Groundless Fears of an Afnbuscade. — Crossing of
Broad river. — Stormy Times. — Jaded Co?idition of Me7i and Horses.
— Tory Information. — Gilmer's Adventicres. — Plan of attacking
Ferguson. — Colo?iel G?'aham Retires. — Chronical assigned Command
of the Lincoln Men. — Young Ponder Taken. — Ferguson's Dress. —
Pressing towards the enemy's Camp.

CHAPTER XII.

King's Mountain Battle, October 7th, 1780.

TABLE OF CONTENTS. xi

— Winston's mis- Adventures. — Cleveland not the First to Commence
the Action. — Surprising the Enemy's Picket. — Shelby's Column An-
noyed by the Enemy. — Campbell's Men Rush into the Fight— At-
tack on the British Main Guard. — The Virginians Advance up the
Mountain. — March of Cleveland's Men— Patriotic Speech of their
Commander. — Drive in a Picket. — Movements of Lacey's Men. —
Campbell's Corps Driven before the Bayonet — Rally, and Renew
the Contest. — Shelby, too, Retired before the Charging Columns. —
The Right and Left Wings take part in the Action. — Culbertson's
Heroism. — Captain Moses Shelby Wounded. — Ensign Campbell Dis-
lodging Tories from their Rocky Ramparts. — Terrific Character of
the Co?tfiict. — Amusing Incident of one of Lacey's Men. — Heroic
Efforts of Campbell and his Corps. — Ensign Campbells Good Con-
duct.— Captain Edmundson's Exploit and Death. — Lieutenant
Reece Bow en's Disdain of Danger, and his Lamented Fall. — Camp-
bell's Active Efforts and Heroic Appeals. — Death of Major Chron-
icle.— The South Fork Boys Charged, and Several Wounded. —
Robert Henry Transfixed, and yet Survived all his Associates. —
William Twitty and Abram Forney. — Cleveland and his Men. —
Lieutenant Samuel Johnson and other Wounded Officers. — Intre-
pidity of Charles Gordon and David Wither spoon. — Singular
Adventure of Charles Bowen and Colonel Cleveland.

CHAPTER XIII.

The Battle— October 7th, 1780.

Further Progress and Incidents of the Contest. — Heroic Act of William
Robertson. — Thomas Robertson Shoots a Tricky Tory. — Treatment
of the Tory Branson, by Captain Withrow. — Captain Lenoir's
Part in the Battle. — Captain Robert Sevier Wounded. — Alarm
concerning Tarleton. — Mistake caused by Campbell's Bald Faced
Horse. — Campbell's Daring Reconnoiter. — Anecdote of Cleveland.
— Colonel Williams' Patriotic Conduct. — William Giles " Creased"
— Revives, and Renews the Fight. — Thomas Young's Relation of
Colonel Williams' Fall. — Major Hammond' s Desperate Charge,
and singular Premonition of one of his Men. — Campbell and Shelby
Renewing the Attack. — Lieutenant- Colonel Hambridge Wounded. —
Ferguson s Pride and Recklessness — Attempting to Escape, zs
Mortally Wounded. — Various Statements of Colonel Williams'
Fall. — Furious Charge of Campbell 's and Shelby' s Men. — Several
Corps driven down the Mountain. — British Over-Shoot the Whigs.
— North Carolina Tories first to Weaken. — Colonel Graham' s Unex-

xii TABLE OF CONTENTS.

pec ted Return. — Ferguson's Fall — DePeyster Vindicated. — Whigs
slow to Recognize the White Flag. — Young Sevier's Shooting
Paroxysm. — Efforts of Shelby and Campbell to Quell the Firing of
the Whigs. — Three Rousing Cheers for the Great Victory. —
Colonel Williams' Shot — an Exciting Scene. — Conflicting Stories
of his Fatal Charge. — British Officers Surrender their Swords. —
Ferguson's Heroic Conduct in the Battle — his Mistakes. — He was
Mortally Wounded, not Killed Out- Right. — Curiosity of the Whigs
to View his Body. — His Mistresses. — Privations and Sufferings of
the Mountaineers. — Strength of the Tones. — Absence of their
Leaders. — Their Fighting Qualities. — Dismay of the Southern
British Commanders. — Their Ignorance of the Over-Mountai?i
Whig Settlements. — Boone not on the Campaign. — Duration of the
Battle.— Strength and Losses of the British and Tories.— Colonels
John and Patrick Moore. — Number of Prisoners Taken. — Errors
in Report of Losses. — Names of Whigs Killed and Wounded —
Death of Captain Sevier. — William Moore Wounded. — Remarkable
Losses in Campbells Regiment.— Captains Weir and Shannon
Arrive. — Counting the Dead. — Caring for the Wounded.— Guard-
ing the Prisoners.— Scarcity of Provisions.— King s Mountain
Souvenirs.— He art- Rending Scenes of the Battle Field.— The Night
after the Action.

CHAPTER XIV.

October, 1780.

Battle Incidents.— Long Sa?n Abney Coerced into Ferguson's Army.—
Death of Arthur Patterson— Drury Mathis' Rough Experience.—
A Tory Woma?i Finding her Slain Son. — Fatality of the Riflemen.
—Preston Goforth and three Brothers Killed.— A Brother kills a
Brother.— The Whig and Tory Logans.— William Logan Noticed.
—Preparing to Retire.— Burning Captured Wagons.— Horse-Litters
for the Wounded.— Gray s Kindness to a Wounded Tory.— A
Termagant Prisoner Released.— Messengers sent to the Foot-Men.—
Anns Captured.— Tories made to Carry Them.— Trophies of Vic-
tory.—A Whig Woman Refusing to Share in the Plunder.- Rumor
of Tarletoris Approach.— Burial of the Whig and Tory Dead.—
Treatment of Ferguson Considered.— Re-Interment of Remains.—
March of the Army. -Death of Col. Williams. -Camp at Broad
River - Williams' Burial.- Discovery of his Long- Forgotten Grave.
—Six Tory Brothers Escape.— Notice of Colonel Walker. -Bran-

TABLE OF CONTENTS. xiii

don's Barbarity. — Campbell Protecting the Prisoners. — Grafs Retort
to a Tory Vixen. — Gray s Services. — Suffering for Food. — Feeding
Prisoners on Corn and Pumpkins. — Billeting the Wounded. — March
to Bickerstaff 's Old Field.

CHAPTER XV.

October— November, 1780.

Colonel Campbell Denounces Plundering. — Complaints Against Tory
Leaders. — Their Outrages on the Whigs. — A Court Called to Con-
sider the Matter. — Retaliation for British Executions Demanded. —
A Law Found to Meet the Case. — Charges against Mills, Gilkey,
and McFall. — Colo?iel Davenport Noticed. — Number of Tories
Tried and Condemned . — Case of James Crawford. — One of the
Prisoners Released. — Cleveland Favoring Severe Measures. —
Motives of the Patriots Vindicated. — Shelby s Explanation. —
Tories Executed — their names and Residence. — Paddy Carrs
Remarks, a7id Notice of Him. — Baldwin's Singular Escape. —
Further Executions Stopped. — Tories Subsequently Hung. — Rumor
of Tarleton's Approach. — Whigs Hasten to the Catawba. — A Hard
Day s March — Sufferings of Patriots and Prisoners. — Major Mc-
Dowells Kindness. — Mrs. McDowell's Treatment of British Offi-
cers.— Some of the Whig Troops Retire. — Disposition of the Wounded.
— Prisoners Escape— One Re-taken and Hung. — March to the
Moravian Settlements. — Bob Powell 's Challenge. — Official Account
of the Battle Prepared. — Campbell and Shelby Visit General Gates.
— Cleveland Left in Command. — His Trial of Tories. — Escape of
Green and Langum. — Cleveland Assaults Doctor Johnson. — Colonel
Armstrong Succeeds to the Command. — Escape of British Officers.

CHAPTER XVI.

October— December, 1780.

Disposition of King' s Mountain Prisoners. — Proposition to Enlist Them
— Needed for Exchange. — Congress refers the Matter to the States
where the Prisoners Belong. — How They Dwindled Away. — Colonel
Armstrong Blamed. — Remnant Confined at Salisbury. — DePeyster
and Ryerson Paroled. — A Plucky Band of Whigs Scare a Large
Tory Party. — Tarleton Frustrates Cornwallis' Design of Relievi?ig
Ferguson. — Intercepting Fergusons Messengers. — Tarleton at

xiv TABLE OF CONTENTS.

Length in Motion. — His Instructions. — Effect of Kings Mountain
Victory. — Ewin and Barry Alarm the Neutrals and they Alarm
Cornwallis. — Crowning of David Knox. — Cornwallis flees to South
Carolina, with the Imaginary Mountaineers in Pursuit. — A Tricky
Guide Misleading the Retiring Troops. — A Panic. — Illness of Corn-
wallis.— Sickness and Fatality among the Troops. — Privations and
Sufferings of the Retrograders. — Aid Rendered by the Tories. —
Ninety Six Safe. — Cornwallis Threatens Retaliation for Execution
of Kings Mountain Prisoners. — Gates and Randall on the Situa-
tion.— The Question Met by General Greene. — Cornwallis Drops the
Matter. — Case of Adam Cusack. — The Widows and Orphans of
Ninety Six District. — Good Words for Kings Mountain Victory. —
Gates Thanks the Victors. — Washington Takes Courage. — Resolves
of Congress. — Greene and Lee Commend the Mountaineers. — Lossing,
Bancroft, and Irving on the Result. — The British Leaders Recognize
the Disastrous Effects of Ferguson s Miscarriage. — Gates and Jef-
ferson's Encomiums. — Kings Mountain Paves the V/ay for York-
town and Independence.

CHAPTER XVII.

Gen. William Campbell.

His Scotch-Irish Ancestry. — His Father an Early Holston Explorer. —
William Campbells Birth and Education^ — Settles on Holston. — A
Captain on Dunmore s Campaign. — Raised a Company for the first
Virginia Regiment in 1775. — Return for the Defense of the Fron-
tiers.— His Military Appointments. — Rencounter with and Hanging
of the Bandit Hopkifts. — Suppressing Tories up New River. —
King's Mountain Expedition — his Bravery Vindicated. — Public
Thanks for his Services. — Marches to Long Island of Holston. —
At Whitzells Mills and Guilford. — Resigns from Ill-treatment. —
Made Brigadier- General. — Serves under LaFayette. — Death and
Character. — Notices of his King's Mountain Officers.

CHAPTER XVIII.

Cols. Shelby and Sevier, and their Officers.

Notice of Evan Shelby. — Isaac Shelby s Life and Services. — Officers
under him at King's Mountain — Evan Shelby, Jr. — Gilbert Chris-
tian— Moses Shelby — James Elliott — John Sawyers — George Max-
well, and George Rutledge. — John Sevier's Life and Services. —
His King's Mountain Officers — Jo?iathan Tipton — Valentine and
Robert Sevier — Christopher Taylor — Jacob Brown — Samuel Weir.

TABLE OF CONTENTS. xv

CHAPTER XIX.

Col. Ben. Cleveland, Maj. Joseph Winston and their

Officers.

Cleveland 's Ancestry. — His Early Life and Hunting Adventures. —
Trip to Kentucky. — Elk Hunt and Narrow Escapes. — Revolution-
ary War. — Suppressing Scotch Tories. — Rutherford 's Cherokee
Campaign. — Marches to Watauga. — Appointed Colonel. — Serves in
Georgia. — New River Scout. — King's Mountain. — Hangs Coyle
and Brown. — Captured by Tories and his Rescue. — Riddle and
Wells Hung. — Other Tory Brigands Taken — Nichols, Tate, and
Harrison. — Thumbing the Notch. — Reforming Tories. — Removes to
Tugalo. — Hangs Dinkins. — Appointed Judge. — Anecdote. — Great
Size, Death, and Character.

Major Joseph Winston Noticed. — Ben. Herndon. — Micajah and Joel
Lewis. — Robert and John Cleveland. — Jesse Franklin. — William
Lenoir — John Barton — Willia?n Meredith, and Minor Smith. —
John Brown and Samuel Johnson. — David and John Wither-
spoon. — Jo. Herndon, Richard Allen, and Elisha Reynolds.

CHAPTER XX.

Laeey and Other Whigs.— British and Tory Leaders.

Lacey, Hawthorne, Tate, and Moffett. — Williams, Hammond, Hayes,
Dillard, Thompson, and Candler. — Brandon, Steen, and Roebuck. —
Maj. McDowell, Capt. McDowell, Kennedy, Vance, and Wood. —
Hampton, Singleton, Porter, Withrow, Miller, and Watson. —
Hambright, Graham, Chronicle, Dickson, Johnston, White,
Espey, Martin, and Mattocks. — British and Tory Leaders,

APPENDIX.

Allaire 's Diary, and Other British Accounts. — Letters of Williams,
Davidson, and Gates. — Gates' Thanks to the Victors. — Official Re-
port of King s Mountain. — Shelby s and Campbells Letters. — Wash-
ington's General Order. — Arthur Campbell and Unknown Writer s
Statements. — Col. Campbell's General Orders. — Thanks of Virginia
Legislature. — Lee and Greene's Letters. — LaFayette on Campbells
Death. — Monroe's Letter. — Robert Campbell, Shelby, Graham,
Lenoir, and Sharp's Naratives. — "Narrator s" Charge. — Shelby
and Sevier s Correspondence. — Shelby's Pamphlet. — Synopsis of Re-
joinders.— Various Certificates Vindicating Col Campbell — Old
Ballads. — Index .

LIBRARY

OF THE

UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS

CHAPTER I

1765 to May, 1780.

Causes of the Revolution — Alternate Successes and Disasters of the
Early Campaigns of the War — Siege and Reduction of Charleston.

For ten years before the outbreak of the American Revo-
lution, the great question of taxation without representation
agitated the minds of the American people. They rejected
the stamps, because they implied a tax ; they destroyed
the tea, because it imposed a forced levy upon them without
their consent, to gratify the insatiate demands of their trans-
Atlantic sovereign, and his tyrannical Ministry and Parlia-
ment. Should they basely yield one of their dearest rights,
they well judged they might be required, little by little, to
yield all. They, therefore, manfully resisted these invasions
as unbecoming a free people.

When, in 1775, Great Britain determined to enforce her
obnoxious laws, the people, under their chosen leaders,
seized their arms, forsook their homes and families, and
boldly asserted their God-given rights. A long and embit-
tered contest was commenced, involving mighty interests.
Freedom was threatened — an empire was at stake. Sturdy
blows were given and received, with various results. The
first year of the war, the Americans beat back the British
from Lexington and Concord, and captured Crown Point,
but were worsted at Bunker Hill ; they captured Chambly
and St. Johns, and repulsed the enemy near Longueil, but
the intrepid Montgomery failed to take Quebec, losing his
life in the effort.

The second year of the contest, which brought forth the
immortal Declaration of Independence, proved varying in

(17)

18 KING'S MOUNTAIN

its fortunes. The Scotch Tories in North Carolina were
signally defeated at Moore's Creek, and the British, long
cooped up in Boston, were compelled to evacuate the place ;
and were subsequently repulsed at Sullivan's Island, near
Charleston ; while the Americans, on the other hand, were
defeated at the Cedars, and were driven from Montreal,
Chambly and St. Johns, worsted at Long Island and White
Plains, and lost Fort Washington, on the Hudson. Mean-
while the frontier men of Virginia, the Carolinas, East Ten-
nessee, and Georgia, carried on successful expeditions against
the troublesome Cherokees, whom British emissaries had in-
veigled into hostilities against their white neighbors.

Yet the year closed with gloomy prospects — despair sat
on many a brow, and saddened many a heart — the main
army was greatly reduced, and the British occupied New
York, and the neighboring Province of New Jersey. Wash-
ington made a desperate venture, crossing the Delaware
amid floating ice in December, attacking and defeating the
unsuspecting enemy at Trenton ; and, pushing his good
fortune, commenced the third year of the war, 1777, by
securing a victory at Princeton. While the enemy were, for
a while, held at bay at the Red Bank, yet the results of
the contests at Brand}'wine and Germantown were not
encouraging to the American arms, and the British gained
a firm foot-hold in Philadelphia. And subsequently they
captured Forts Clinton and Montgomery, on the Hudson.

Farther north, better success attended the American
arms. St. Leger, with a strong British and Indian force,
laid siege to Fort Stanwix, on the Mohawk ; but after repel-
ling a relieving party under Gen. Herkimer, he was at length
compelled to relinquish his investiture, on learning of the
approach of a second army of relief, retiring precipitately
from the country ; while the more formidable invading force
under Burgoyne met with successive reverses at Benning-
ton, Stillwater, and Saratoga, eventuating in its total sur-
render to the victorious Americans.

AND ITS HEROES. 19

In June, 1778, the fourth year of the war, the British
evacuated Philadelphia, when Washington pursued their
retreating forces, overtaking and vigorously attacking them
at Monmouth. A large Tory and Indian party defeated
the settlers, and laid waste the Wyoming settlements. As
the result of Burgoyne's signal discomfiture, a treaty of alli-
ance between the new Republic and France brought troops
and fleets to the aid of the struggling Americans, and pro-
duced some indecisive fighting on Rhode Island.

The adventurous expedition under George Rogers Clark,
from the valleys of Virginia and West Pennsylvania, down
the Monongahela and Ohio, and into the country of the
Illinois, a distance of well nigh fifteen hundred miles,
with limited means, destitute of military stores, pack-
horses and supplies — with only their brave hearts and
trusty rifles, was a remarkable enterprise. Yet with all
these obstacles, and less than two hundred men, Clark fear-
lessly penetrated the western wilderness, killing his game
by the way, and conquered those distant settlements.
Though regarded at the time as a herculean undertaking,
and a most successful adventure, yet none foresaw the
mighty influence it was destined to exert on the subsequent
progress and extension of the Republic.

Varied fortunes attended the military operations of 1779,
the fifth year of the strife. The gallant Clark and his intre-
pid followers, marched in winter season, from Kaskaskia
across the submerged lands of the Wabash, sometimes wad-
ing up to their arm-pits in water, and breaking the ice before
them, surprised the garrison at Vincennes, and succeeded
in its capture. The British force in Georgia, having defeated
General Ashe at Brier creek, projected an expedition against
Charleston, and progressed as far as Stono, whence they
were driven back to Savannah, where the combined French
and Americans were subsequently repulsed, losing, among
others, the chivalrous Count Pulaski. At the North, Stony
Point was captured at the point of the bayonet, and Paulus

20 KING 'S MO UNTAIN

Hook surprised ; while General Sullivan's well-appointed
army over-ran the beautiful country of the Six Nations,
destroying their villages, and devastating their fields, as a
retributive chastisement for their repeated invasions of the
Mohawk and Minisin settlements, and laying waste the
lovely vale of Wyoming.

The war had now dragged its slow length along for five
successive campaigns, and the British had gained but few
permanent foot-holds in the revolted Colonies. Instead of
the prompt and easy conquest they had promised themselves,
they had encountered determined opposition wherever they
had shown the red cross of St. George, or displayed their
red-coated soldiery. Repeated defeats on the part of the
Americans, had ^served to inure them to the hardships of
war, and ^Hiyvedthem how to profit by their experiences and
disasters.

New efforts were demanded on the part of the British
Government to subdue their rebellious subjects ; and South
Carolina was chosen as the next field of extensive opera-
tions. Sir Henry Clinton, who had met so signal a repulse
at Charleston in 1776, and in whose breast still rankled the
mortifying recollections of that memorable failure, resolved
to head in person the new expedition against the Palmetto
Colony, and retrieve, if possible, the honor so conspicu-
ously tarnished there on his previous unfortunate enterprise.

Having enjoyed the Christmas holiday of 1779 in New
York harbor, Sir Henry, accompanied by Lord Cornwailis,
sailed from Sandy Hook the next day with the fleet under
Admiral Arbuthnot, transporting an army of over seven
thousand ^w^ hundred men. Some of the vessels, however,
were lost by the way, having encountered stormy weather
in the gulf-stream — one bark, carrying Hessian troops, was
dismasted and driven across the ocean, an ordnance vessel
was foundered, while several transports were captured by
bold and adventurous American privateers, and most of the
horses for the expedition perished. The place of rendez-

AND ITS HEROES. 21

vous was at Tybee Bay, near the entrance to Savannah
river, whence Clinton, on his way towards Charleston, was
joined by the troops in Georgia, making his force nine
thousand strong, besides the sailors in the fleet ; but to ren-
der his numbers invincible beyond all peradventure, he at
once ordered from New York Lord Rawdon's brigade,
amounting to about two thousand five hundred more.

Charleston, against which this formidable British force
was destined, was an opulent city of some fifteen thousand
people, white and black, and was garrisoned by less than
four thousand men — not near enough to properly man the
extended works of defence, of nearly three miles in circum-
ference, as they demanded. Governor Rutledge, a man
of unquestioned patriotism, had conferred upon him by the
Legislature, in anticipation of this threatened attack, dicta-
torial powers, with the admonition, " to do every thing
necessary for the public good ; " but he was, nevertheless,
practically powerless. He had few or none of the sinews
of war ; and so depreciated had become the currency of
South Carolina, that it required seven hundred dollars to
purchase a pair of shoes for one of her needy soldiers. The
defeat of the combined French and American force at Savan-
nah the preceding autumn, in which the South Carolinians
largely participated, had greatly dispirited the people ; and
the Governor's appeal to the militia produced very little effect.
The six old South Carolina regiments had been so depleted
by sickness and the casualties of war as to scarcely number
eight hundred, all told ; and the defence of the city was
committed to these brave men, the local militia, and a few
regiments of Continental troops — the latter reluctantly
spared by Washington from the main army, and which, ho
thought, was " putting much to nazard" in an attempt to
defend the city, and the result proved his military foresight.
It would have been wiser for General Lincoln and his
troops to have retired from the place, and engaged in a
Fabian warfare, harassing the enemy's marches by ambus-

22 KING'S MOUNTAIN

cades, and cutting off his foraging parties ; but the leading
citizens of Charleston, relying on their former success,
urged every argument in their power that the city should be
defended to the last extremity. Yet no experienced En-
gineer regarded the place as tenable.

On the eleventh of February, 1780, the British forces
landed on St. John's Island, within thirty miles of Charles-
ton, subsequently forming a depot, and building fortifications,
at Wappoo, on James' Island ; and, on the twenty-sixth of
that month, they gained a distant view of the place and har-
bor. The dreaded day of danger approached nearer and
nearer ; and on the twenty-seventh, the officers of the Con-
tinental squadron, which carried one hundred and fifty guns,
reported their inability to guard the harbor at the bar, where
the best defence could be made ; and " then," as Washington
expressed it, uthe attempt to defend the town ought to have
been relinquished." But no such thought was entertained.
Every thing was done, that could be done, to strengthen
and extend the lines of defence, dig ditches, erect redoubts
and plant abatis, with a strong citadel in the center.*

Preparations, too, were steadily progressing on the part
of the enemy. On the twenty-fourth of March, Lord Corn-
wallis and a Hessian officer were seen with their spy-
glasses making observations ; and on the twenty-ninth, the
British passed Ashley river, breaking ground, on the first
of April, at a distance of eleven hundred yards from the
American lines. At successive periods they erected five
batteries on Charleston Neck.

Late in the evening of March thirtieth, General Charles

* There was published, first in a Williamsburgh, Va., paper of April 8th, 1780, copied
into Dunlap's Pennsylvania Packet of April 18th, and into the New York Royal Gazette of
same date, an account of a Colonel Hamilton Ballendine having made drawings of Charleston
and its fortifications, was directing his course to the enemy, when an American picket
guard sent out to Stono, captured him ; he, thereupon, exhibited his drafts, supposing that
the party belonged to the British army. They soon disabused him of his error, carried
him to General Lincoln, who ordered him for execution, and he was accordingly hanged on
the 5th of March. As none of the South Carolina historians, nor any of the Charleston
diarists or letter-writers during the siege, make the slightest reference to any such person
or circumstance, there could have been no foundation for the story.

AND ITS HEROES. 23

Scott, commanding one of the Virginia Continental bri-
gade, arrived, accompanied by his staff, and some other
officers. "The next morning," says Major Croghan, "I
accompanied Generals Lincoln and Scott to view the batteries
and works around town ; found those on the Cooper river side
in pretty good order, and chiefly manned by sailors ; but the
greater part of the remainder not complete, and stood in
need of a great deal of work. General Scott was very par-
ticular in inquiring of General Lincoln as to the quantity of
provisions in the garrison, when the General informed him
there were several months' supply, by a return he had re-
ceived from the Commissary. General Scott urged the
necessity of having officers to examine it, and, as he ex-
pressed \t,for them to lay their hands on it."*

A sortie was planned on the fourth of April, to be com-
manded by General Scott — one battalion led by Colonel
Clarke and Major Hogg, of North Carolina ; another by
Colonel Parker and Major Croghan, of Virginia, and the
light infantry by Lieutenant-Colonel Laurens ; but the wind
proved unfavorable, which prevented the shipping from
going up Town creek, to fire on the enemy, and give the
sallying party such assistance as they might be able to ren-
der, and thus it failed of execution. General Woodford's
Virginia brigade of Continentals arrived on the sixth, and
some North Carolina militia under the command of Colonel
Harrington. They were greeted by the firing of a feu de
foie, and the ringing of the bells all night. f

Admiral Arbuthnot's near approach to the bar, on the
seventh of April, induced Commodore Whipple, who com-
manded the American naval force, to retire without firing a
gun, first to Fort Moultrie, and afterward to Charleston ; and
the British fleet passed the fort without stopping to engage
it — the passage having been made, says the New Jersey

* MS. Journal of Major William Croghan, of the Virginia Line. Siege of Charles-
ton, 123.

fCroghan's MS. Journal.

24 KING'S MOUNTAIN

Gazette* while a severe thunder storm was raging, which
caused the ships to be " invisible near half the time of their
passing. " Colonel Charles C. Pinckney, who commanded
there, with three hundred men, kept up a heavy cannon-
ade on the British ships during their passage, which was
returned by each of the vessels as they passed — the enemy
losing fourteen men killed, and fifteen wounded, while not
a man was hurt in the garrison. f One ship had its fore-
topmast shot away, and others sustained damage. The
Acteus transport ran aground near Haddrell's Point, when
Captain Thomas Gadsden, a brother of Colonel Gadsden,
who was detached with two field pieces for the purpose, fired
into her with such effect, that the crew set her on fire, and
retreated in boats to the other vessels. The Royal fleet, in
about two hours, came to anchor within long shot of the
American batteries.

By the tenth of April, the enemy had completed their
first parallel, when Clinton and Arbuthnot summoned the
town to surrender. Lincoln answered : " From duty and
inclination I shall support the town to the last extremity,"
A severe skirmish had previously taken place between
Lieutenant-Colonel John Laurens and the advance guard of
the enemy, in which the Americans lost Captain Bowman
killed, and Major Hyrne and seven privates wounded. On the
twelfth, the batteries on both sides were opened, keeping up
an almost incessant fire. The British had the decided ad-
vantage in the number and strength of their mortars and
royals, having twenty-one, while the Americans possessed
only two ;l and the lines of the latter soon began to crumble
under the powerful and constant cannonade maintained
against them. On the thirteenth, Governor Rutledge was

*May 12th, 1780.

fCroghan's MS. Journal.

J Such is the statement of Dr. Ramsay, who was present during the siege. The
British official returns show nine mortars, ranging from four to ten-inch caliber, and one
eight-inch howitzer, surrendered at Charleston, and a ten-inch mortar taken at Fort Moul-
trie; but probably the most of these were either unfit for use, or more likely, the limited
quantity of shells enabled the defenders to make use of only two of this class of ordnance.

AND ITS HEROES. 25

persuaded to withdraw from the garrison, while exit was
yet attainable, leaving Lieutenant-Governor Gadsden with
five members of the Council.

On the same day, General Lincoln, in a council of war,
revealed to its members his want of resources, and suggested
an evacuation. " In such circumstances," said General Mc-
intosh, " we should lose not an hour in attempting to get
the Continental troops, at least, over Cooper river ; for on
their safety, depends the salvation of the State." But Lin-
coln only wished them to give the matter mature consider-
ation, and he would consult them further about it. Before
he met them again, the American cavalry at Monk's Corner,
which had been relied on to keep open the communication
between the city and the country, were surprised and dis-
persed on the fourteenth ; and five days later, the expected
British reinforcements of two thousand five hundred men
arrived from New York, when Clinton was enabled more
completely to environ the devoted city, and cut off all chance
of escape.

A stormy council was held on the nineteenth, when the
heads of the several military departments reported their
respective conditions — of course, anything but flattering in
their character. Several of the members still inclined to an
evacuation, notwithstanding the increased difficulties of
effecting it since it was first suggested. In the midst of the
conference, Lieutenant-Governor Gadsden happened to come
in — whether by accident, or design, was not known — and
General Lincoln courteously proposed that he be allowed to
take part in the council. He appeared surprised and dis-
pleased that a thought had been entertained of either evacu-
ation or capitulation, and acknowledged himself entirelv
ignorant of the state of the provisions, etc., but would con-
sult his Council in regard to the proposals suggested.

In the evening, an adjourned meeting was held, when
Colonel Laumoy, of the engineer department, reported the
insufficiency of the fortifications, the improbability of holding

26 KING'S MOUNTAIN

out many days longer, and the impracticability of making
a retreat ; and closed by suggesting that terms of honorable
capitulation be sought from the enemy. Lieutenant-Gov-
ernor Gadsden, with four of his Councilors, coming in shortly
after, treated the military gentlemen very rudely, the Lieut-
enant-Governor declaring that he would protest against their
proceedings ; that the militia were willing to live upon rice
alone, rather than give up the town on any terms ; and that
even the old women had become so accustomed to the ene-
my's shot, that they traveled the streets without fear or
dread ; but if the council were determined to capitulate, he
had his terms ready in his pocket.

Mr. Thomas Ferguson, one of the Councilors, declared
that the inhabitants of the city had observed the boats col-
lected to carry off the Continental troops ; and that they
would keep a good watch upon the army, and should any
attempt at evacuation ever be made, he would be among
the first to open the gates for the admission of the enemy,
and assist them in attacking the retiring troops Colonel C.
C. Pinckney soon after came in abruptly — probably having
been apprised by the Lieutenant-Governor of the subject
under discussion — and, forgetting his usual politeness, ad-
dressed General Lincoln with great warmth, and in much the
same strain as General Gadsden, adding that those who were
for business needed no council, and that he came over on
purpose from Fort Moultrie, to prevent any terms being
offered to the enemy, or any evacuation of the garrison at-
tempted ; and particularly charged Colonel Laumoy and his
department with being the sole authors and promoters of
such proposals.*

It is very certain, that these suggestions of evacuation or
capitulation, occasioned at the time great discontent among
both the regulars and militia, who wished to defend the city

*The details of this military council are taken from Major Crosrhan's MS. Journal ; and
from General Mcintosh's Journal, published entire in the Magnolia Magazine, Dec. 1842, and
cited in Simms' South Carolina in the Revolution, 127-129, both of which are, in this case,
identical in language.

AND ITS HEROES. 27

to the last extremity , and who resolved, in view of continu-
ing the defence, that they would be content, if necessary,
with only half rations daily.* All these good people had
their wishes gratified — the siege was procrastinated, and
many an additional death, suffering, sorrow, and anguish,
were the consequence.

General Lincoln must have felt hurt, it not sorely nettled,
by these repeated insults — as General Mcintosh acknowl-
edges that he did. When matters of great public concern
result disastrously, scape-goats are always sought, and all
participants are apt to feel more or less unamiable and
fault-finding on such occasions. Or, as Washington ex-
pressed it, referring to another affair, " mutual reproaches
too often follow the failure of enterprises depending upon the
cooperation of troops of different grades." Looking at these
bickerings in the light of history, a century after their oc-
currence, one is struck with General Lincoln's magnanimous
forbearance, when he confessedly made great sacrifices in
defending the place so long against his better judgment, in
deference to the wishes of the people, who, we may well
conclude, were very unfit judges of military affairs.

At another council of officers, held on the twentieth and
twenty-first, the important subject of an evacuation was again
under deliberation ; and the conclusion reached was, " that it
was unadvisable, because of the opposition made to it by
the civil authority and the inhabitants, and because, even if
they should succeed in defeating a large body of the enemy
posted in their way, they had not a sufficiency of boats to
cross the Santee before they might be overtaken by the
whole British army."t It was then proposed to give Sir

* MS. letter of John Lewis Gervais, cited in Simms, 129.

f The enemy were constantly on the watch for any attempted evacuation on the part
of the Americans. Capt J. R. Rousselet, of Tarleton's cavalry, has left this MS. note,
written on the margin of a copy of Steadman's American War, referring to the closing
period of the siege: "Some small vessels, taken from the Americans, were armed, manned
with troops, and stationed off Town Creek, to prevent the escape of the garrison should
they attempt to evacuate the town by that channel. Capt. Rousselet commanded an
armed sloop, with his company on board, under Capt. Salisbury, Royal Navy."

28 KING'S MOUNTAIN

Henry Clinton quiet possession of the city, with its fortifi-
cations and dependencies, on condition that the security of
the inhabitants, and a safe, unmolested retreat for the gar-
rison, with baggage and field pieces, to the north-east of
Charleston should be granted. These terms were instantly
rejected. On searching every house in town, it was found
that the private supplies of provisions were as nearly ex-
hausted as were the public magazines.

On the twenty- fourth, at daybreak, Lieutenant-Colonel
Henderson sallied out with two hundred men, chiefly from
Generals Woodford's and Scott's brigades, surprising and
vigorously attacking the advance flanking party of the
enemy, bayoneting fifteen of them in their trenches, and
capturing a dozen prisoners, of whom seven were wounded,
losing in the brilliant affair, the brave Captain Thomas Gads-
den and one or two privates. A considerable body of the
enemy, under Major Hall, of the seventy-fourth regiment,
attempted to support the party in the trenches ; but were
obliged to retire on receiving a shower of grape from the
American batteries.* A successful enterprise of this kind
proved only a momentary advantage, having no perceptible
influence on the final result.

It is said Colonel C. C. Pinckney, and Lieutenant-Colonel
Laurens, assured General Lincoln they could supply the gar-
rison with plenty of beef from Lempriere's Point, if they were
permitted to remain on that side of Cooper river with the force
then under their command ; upon which the Commissary was
ordered to issue a full allowance again. But unfortunately
the first and only cattle butchered at Lempriere's for the use
of the garrison were altogether spoiled through neglect or
mismanagement before they came over. These gentlemen,
are said, also, to have promised that the communication on
the Cooper side could, and would, be kept open. Being in-
habitants of Charleston, and knowing the country well, per-
haps the General, with some reason, might be inclined to the

*Croghan's MS. Journal.

AND ITS HEROES. 29

same opinion ; and besides furnishing the garrison with beef,
they were to send a sufficient number of negroes over to
town for the military works, who were much wanted. But
Colonel Pinckney with the greater part, or almost the whole
of his first South Carolina regiment, and Lieutenant-Colonel
Laurens with the light infantry were recalled from Fort Moul-
trie and Lempriere's * — and thus ended this spasmodic hope.
Probably this failure caused a strict search to be made,
about this time, in the houses of the citizens for provisions ;
" some was found," says Major Croghan, " but a much less
quantity than was supposed."

The Americans were not slow in perceiving the utter
hopelessness of their situation. On the twenty-sixth, General
DuPortail, an able French officer and Engineer-in-Chief
of the American army, arrived from Philadelphia, having
been sent by Washington to supervise the engineer depart-
ment. He frankly informed General Lincoln that there was
no prospect of getting any reinforcements very soon from the
grand army — that Congress had proposed to General Wash-
ington to send the Maryland Line to their relief. f As soon
as General DuPortail came into the garrison, examined the
military works, and observed the enemy, he declared the
defences were not tenable — that they were only field lines ;
and that the British might have taken the place ten days ago.
" I found the town," wrote DuPortail to Washington, " in
a desperate state. "J He wished to leave the garrison imme-
diately, while it was possible ; but General Lincoln would not
allow him to do so, as it would dispirit the troops. On
learning General DuPortail's opinion, a council was called the
same day, and a proposition made for the Continental troops
to make a night retreat ; and when the citizens were informed
of the subject under deliberation, some of them came into
the council, warmly declaring to General Lincoln, that if he
attempted to withdraw the troops and abandon the citizens,

*Croghan's MS. Journal ; and Mcintosh's Diary.

fCroghan's MS. Journal.

% Letters to Washington, ii, 450.

30 KING'S MOUNTAIN

they would cut up his boats, and open the gates to the enemy.
This put an end to all further thoughts of an evacuation.*

As late as the twenty-eighth, a supernumerary officer
left town to join the forces in the country ; but the next day the
small party remaining at Lempriere's Point was recalled,
the enemy at once occupying it with a large force ; and thus
the last avenue between the city and country was closed.
General Lincoln informed the general officers, privately, this
day, that he intended the horn work as a place of retreat
for the whole army in case they were driven from the lines.
General Mcintosh observing to him the impossibility of those
then stationed at South Bay and Ashley river, in such a
contingency, being able to retreat there, he replied that they
might secure themselves as best they could. And on the
thirtieth, in some way, Governor Rutledge managed to con-
vey a letter to General Lincoln, upon which the General con-
gratulated the army, in general orders, on hearing of a large
reinforcement, which may again open the communication
with the country. f It was the old story of drowning men
catching at straws.

It is unnecessary to dwell upon the daily details of the
protracted siege. Some of the more unusual occurrences
only need be briefly noticed, so that we may hasten on to the
melancholy catastrophe. Eleven vessels were sunk in the
channel to prevent the Royal fleet from passing up Cooper
river, and enfilading the American lines on that side of the
place ; while a frigate and two galleys were placed above
the sunken obstructions, to cooperate with the shore batter-
ies in thwarting any attempt on the part of the enemy for
their removal.

But the work of destruction went steadily on. Cannon
balls by day and by night went streaking through the air,
and crashing through the houses. One morning, a shell
burst very near Colonel Parker, a large piece of which fell

* Moultrie's Memoirs, i, 80.
fCroghan's MS. Journal.

AND ITS HEROES. 31

harmless at his feet, when he said, with much composure,
"a miss is as good as a mile ; "* and, that very evening,
while the gallant Colonel was looking over the parapet, he
was shot dead. Shells, fire-balls, and carcasses, ingen-
iously packed with combustibles, loaded pistol barrels, and
other destructive missiles, were thrown into the city, setting
many buildings on fire, and maiming and destroying not a
few of the citizens and soldiery. On one occasion, when a
pastor and a few worshipers, mostly women and invalids,
were gathered in a church, supplicating the mercies of
heaven on themselves and suffering people, a bomb-shell
fell in the chuch-yard, when all quickly dispersed, retiring
to their several places of abode.

Some of the cases of fatality were quite uncommon.
Meyer Moses' young child was killed while in the arms of
its nurse, and the house burned down. A man and his wife
were killed at the same time, and in the same bed. A sol-
dier who had been relieved from serving at his post in the
defence of the city, entered his humble domicil, and while in
the act of embracing his anxious wife, with tears of gladness,
a cannon ball passed through the house, killing them both
instantly. Many sought safety in their cellars ; but even
when protected for the moment from the constantly falling
missiles of death and destruction, they began to suffer for
want of food, since all the avenues to the city for country
supplies, had been cut off.

General Moultrie has left us a vivid picture of this period of
the siege : " Mr. Lord and Mr. Basquin, two volunteers, were
sleeping upon the mattress together, in the advanced redoubt,
when Mr. Lord was killed by a shell falling upon him, and
Mr. Basquin at the same time had the hair of his head burnt,
and did not awake until he was aroused from his slumbers by
his fellow soldiers. The fatigue in that advanced redoubt was
so great for want of sleep, that many faces were so swelled
they could scarcely see out of their eyes. I was obliged to re-

* Virginia Gazette, May 16, 1780.

32 KING'S MOUNTAIN

lieve Major Mitchell, the commanding officer. They were
constantly on the lookout for the shells that were continually
falling among them. It was by far the most dangerous post
on the lines. On my visit to the battery, not having been
there for a day or two, I took the usual way of going in,
which was a bridge that crossed our ditch, quite exposed to
the enemy, who, in the meantime, had advanced their works
within seventy or eighty yards of the bridge, which I did
not know. As soon as I had stepped upon the bridge, an
uncommon number of bullets whistled about me ; and on
looking to my right, I could just see the heads of about
twelve or fifteen men firing upon me from behind a breast-
work— I moved on, and got in. When Major Mitchell saw
me, he asked me which way I came in? I told him over
the bridge. He was astonished, and said, ' Sir, it is a thou-
sand to one that you were not killed,' and told me that he
had a covered way through which to pass, by which he con-
ducted me on my return. I staid in this battery about a
quarter of an hour, giving the necessary orders, during which
we were constantly skipping about to get out of the way of
the shells thrown from their howitzers. They were not more
than one hundred yards from our works, and were throwing
their shells in bushels on our front and left flank."*

Under date of the second of May, Major Croghan records
in his Journal, which is corroborated by General Mcintosh's
Diary, that the enemy threw shells charged with rice and
sugar. Simms tells us, that tradition has it, that it was not
rice and sugar with which the shells of the British were
thus ironically charged, but wheat flour and molasses — with
an inscription addressed: "To the Yankee officers in
Charleston," courteously informing them that it contained a
supply of the commodities of which they were supposed to
stand most in need. But the garrison could still jest amid
suffering, volcanoes and death. Having ascertained that
the shell was sent them from a battery manned exclusively

♦Moultrie's Memoirs, i, 83.

AND ITS HEROES. 33

by a Scottish force, they emptied the shell of its contents ;
and filling it with lard and sulphur, to cure them of the
itch, and sent it back to their courteous assailants, with the
same inscription which originally accompanied it. " It was
understood," says Garden, " after the siege, that the note
was received, but not with that good humor that might have
been expected, had it been considered as &jeu cTes-prit, re-
sulting from justifiable retaliation."

" Provisions," as we learn from Johnson's Traditions,
"now failed among the besieged. A sufficiency had been
provided for the occasion ; but the beef and pork had be-
come tainted and unfit for food." But the British "were
misinformed," says Moultrie, "if they supposed us in want
of rice and sugar." Of the latter article, at least during
the earlier stages of the siege, such was its plentifulness
that it was a favorite amusement to pursue the spent hot
shot of the enemy, in order, by flinging sugar upon the
balls, to convert it into candy. But towards the close of
the siege, the supply of sugar must have become limited.
" On the fourth of May," says Major Croghan, " we received
from the Commissary, with our usual allowance of rice, six
ounces of extremely bad meat, and a little coffee and sugar.
It has been very disagreeable to the northern officers and
soldiers to be under the necessity of living without wheat or
Indian bread, which has been the case during the whole
siege." So that the Scotch jokers who sent their shot,
laden with either rice and sugar, or flour and molasses, iron-
ically hinting at the deficiencies of the beleaguered garri-
son, did not, after all, hit very wide of the mark.

Clinton, on the sixth of May, renewed his former terms
for the surrender of the garrison. With the 'limited store
of provisions on hand, with no prospects of receiving fur-
ther supplies or reinforcements, and with the admission on
the part of the Engineers that the lines could not be main-
tained ten days longer, and were liable to be carried by as-
sault at any time, General Lincoln was disposed to accept the

34 KING'S MOUNTAIN

terms tendered ; but he was opposed by the citizens, as they
were required by Clinton to be prisoners on parole, when
they wished to be regarded as non-combatants, and not
subject to the rigorous laws of war. It was only putting
off the evil day for a brief period ; and again the twenty-
four and thirty-two pound carronades, the mortars and
howitzers, belched forth their shot, shell and carcasses upon
the devoted town and garrison, setting many buildings on
fire, and keeping up the most intense excitement. So near
were now the opposing parties, that they could speak words
of bravado to each other ; and the rifles of the Hessian Ya-
gers were so unerring, that a defender could no longer show
himself above the lines with safety ; and even a hat raised
upon a ramrod, was instantly riddled with bullets.

Captain Hudson, of the British Navy, on the fifth of May,
summoned Fort Moultrie, on Sullivan's Island to surrender ;
the larger portion of its garrison having previously retired
to Charleston. Lieutenant-Colonel William Scott,* who com-
manded, sent for answer a rollicking reply : "Tol, lol, de rol,
lol — Fort Moultrie will be defended to the last extremity."
The next day, Hudson repeated his demand, threatening that
if he did not receive an answer in fifteen minutes, he would
storm the fort, and put every man to the sword. Scott, it
would seem, was at first disposed to resort to bravado of
the "last extremity" character; but recalled the officer
bearing it, saying on further reflection the garrison thought
better of it — the disparity of force was far too great — and
begging for a cessation of hostilities, proposed terms of sur-
render, which were granted by Captain Hudson. The sur-
render formally took place on the seventh. f Thus the historic

* Scott was a brave, experienced officer. He served as a Captain during the attack on
Charleston, in 1776 and died in that city in June, 1807.

■f Gordon's History of the Revolution, iii, 354; Moultrie's Memoirs, ii, 84; Ramsay's
Revolution in South Carolina, ii, 56. Bancroft, x, 305. and others, give May 6th as the date
of surrender, but that the 7th was the true date of this occurrence may be seen by com-
paring Tarleton's Campaign, 53-55; Botta's Revolution, New Haven edition, 1842. ii 249;
Johnson's Traditions, 259; Simms' South Carolina in the Revolution, 146; and Siege 0/
Charleston, Munsell, 1867, p. 167.

AND ITS HEROES. 35

Fort Moultrie, which four years before had signally repulsed
a powerful British fleet under Admiral Sir Hyde Parker,
now surrendered to the enemy without firing a gun.

The seventh of May was further noted by an unfortunate
disaster — the partial destruction of the principal magazine
of the garrison, by the bursting of a shell. General Moultrie
had most of the powder — ten thousand pounds — removed to
the north-east corner of the exchange, where it was carefully
bricked up, and remained undiscovered by the British during
the two years and seven months they occupied the city.
Another summons was sent in by Clinton on the eighth — a
truce was granted till the next day ; when Lincoln endeav-
ored to secure the militia from being considered as prisoners
of war, and the protection of the citizens of South Carolina
in their lives and property, with twelve months allowance
of time in which to determine whether to remain under
British rule, or dispose of their effects and remove else-
where. These articles were promptly rejected, with the
announcement on the part of Clinton that hostilities would
be re-commenced at eight o'clock that evening.

"After receiving his letter," says Moultrie, "we re-
mained near an hour silent, all calm and ready, each wait-
ing for the other to begin. At length, we fired the first gun,
and immediately followed a tremendous cannonade — about
one hundred and eighty, or two hundred pieces of heavy
cannon were discharged at the same moment. The mortars
from both sides threw out an immense number of shells. It
was a glorious sight to see them, like meteors, crossing
each other, and bursting in the air. It appeared as if the
stars were tumbling down. The fire was incessant almost
the whole night, cannon balls whizzing, and shells hissing,
continually among us, ammunition chests and temporary
magazines blowing up, great guns bursting, and wounded
men groaning along the lines. It was a dreadful night ! It
was our last great effort, but it availed us nothing. After it,
our military ardor was much abated, and we began to cool.''

36 KING'S MOUNTAIN

When, on the eleventh of May, the British had crossed the
wet ditch by sap, and were within twenty-five yards of the
American lines, all farther defense was hopeless. The militia
refused to do duty.* It was no longer a question of expedi-
ency ; but stern necessity demanded a speedy surrender, and
the stoppage of farther carnage and suffering. General Lin-
coln had proved himself brave, judicious and unwearied in his
exertions for three anxious months in baffling the greatly
superior force of Sir Henry Clinton and Admiral Arbuth-
not. Hitherto the civil authorities, and citizens of Charles-
ton, had stoutly contended that the city should be defended
to the last extremity ; but now, when all hope was lost, a
large majority of the inhabitants, and of the militia, peti-
tioned General Lincoln to accede to the terms offered by the
enemy. The next day articles of capitulation were signed.

The loss of the Americans during the siege was ninety-
eight officers and soldiers killed, and one hundred and forty-
six wounded ; and about twenty of the citizens were killed
by the random shots of the enemy. Upward of thirty
houses were burned, and many others greatly damaged.
Besides the Continental troops, less than two thousand, of
whom five hundred were in hospitals, and a considerable
number of sailors, Sir Henry Clinton managed to enumer-
ate among the prisoners surrendered, all the free male
adults of Charleston, including the aged, the infirm, and
even the Loyalists, so as to swell the number of his formid-
able conquest. In this way, his report was made to boast
of over five thousand six hundred prisoners, when the Loyal-
ist portion but a few days afterwards offered their congratu-
lations on the reduction of South Carolina. The regular
troops and sailors became prisoners of war until exchanged ;
the militia from the country were permitted to return home
on parole, and to be secured in their property so long as
their parole should be observed.

Du Portail to Washington, May 17th, 1780.

AND ITS HEROES. 37

CHAPTER II

May, 1780.

Further Incidents Connected with the. Siege. — Tyranny of the British
Leaders. — Subjugation of South Carolina.

A sad accident occurred shortly after the surrender.
The arms taken from the troops and inhabitants, amounting
to some five thousand, were lodged in a laboratory, near a
large quantity of cartridges and loose powder. A number
of the British officers desiring some of the handsome mounted
swords and pistols, went to the place of deposit to select
such as pleased their fancy, when through carelessness in
snapping the guns and pistols, the loose powder was ig-
nited, which communicated to the cartridges, blew up the
building, and, in an instant, guards, officers, arms, colors,
drums and fifes were sent high into the air — the mangled
bodies of the victims were dashed by the violent explosion
against the neighboring houses, and, in one instance, against
the steeple of a contiguous church edifice. The work-house,
jail, and old barracks were destroyed. Captain Collins,
Lieutenants Gordon and McLeod, together with some fifty
of the British guard, and upward of fifty of the citizens, lost
their lives by this unhappy occurrence.*

It is a singular fact, that at least during a portion of the
siege, Major John Andre*, Deputy Adjutant-General of the
British army, managed in some way to get into the city,
and made his home with Edward Shrewsberry, on the east
side of East Bay street. William Johnson, a prominent
Whig, and others, saw the young man at Shrewsberry's
dressed in plain homespun ; and were told that he was a

• Ramsay's Revolution, ii, 62-63 ; Moultrie's Memoirs ii, 109-112; Pennsylvania Journal,
July 5th, 1780 ; Simms' South Carolina in the Revolution, 136-157; Mackenzie's Strictures, 24.

38 KING >S MO UN TAIN

back countryman, connected with the Virginia troops, and
had brought down cattle for the garrison. By this cattle-
drover ruse, he probably gained access to the city. He
was, of course, there for a purpose — to make observations,
and gain intelligence, and in some secret way, communicate
the result to Sir Henry Clinton The historian, Ramsay,
who was present during the siege, admits that there were
secret friends of the Royal Government in the city, foment-
ing disaffection, and working on the fears of the timid ; and
Moultrie, another eye-witness, tells us that when the British
marched in, to take possession of the city, Captain Roch-
fort said to him, " Sir, you have made a gallant defence ;
but you had a great many rascals among you, (and men-
tioned names,) who came out every night and gave us in-
formation of what was passing in your garrison."*

Stephen Shrewsberry becoming sick, stopped with his
brother Edward awhile, and repeatedly saw Andre' there —
of course, bearing some assumed name ; and after his re-
covery, and the surrender of the city, he was introduced to
the same person at his brother's as Major Andre\ Stephen
Shrewsberry mentioned this singular circumstance to his
brother Edward, who frankly acknowledged that he was
the same person ; but asserted his own ignorance of it at the
time of his brother's illness. Marion's men subsequently
sought the life of Edward Shrewsberry, charging him with
treachery to the American cause ; but he survived the war,
leaving a daughter, a very amiable lady, who lived till 1844,
dying childless.

Certain it is, that Andrd was the devoted friend and pro-
tegd of Sir Henry Clinton, who made him his Aid, and pro-
moted him to the position of Deputy Adjutant-General of the
British army in America ; and it is equally certain, as
shown by Beatson's Memoirs, that "Adjutant-General, Ma-
jor John Andrd" was with the "force that embarked at
New York under Clinton and Arbuthnot." Tarleton shows

* Ramsay's Revolution, ii, 58; Moultrie's Memoirs, ii, 108.

AND ITS HEROES. 39

that Andre7 was performing service in front of Charleston
prior to Arbuthnofs passage of Fort Moultrie early in April ;
a letter of Andrews is in print, dated at " Headquarters, be-
fore Charleston," on the thirteenth of April, 1780, while
the schedule of Charleston prisoners, in May, was reported
by him in his official capacity — all going to show, beyond a
question, that he was at or near Charleston during the whole
period of its investment. It was far less dangerous for him
to pass to and from the city during the siege, than it was to
visit West Point on his subsequent mission to tempt the
Judas of the American Revolution.

However fascinating his talents and deportment, he was
not entitled to the commiseration of the American people as
an honorable but unfortunate foe. Twice he acted the part
of an insidious spy, corrupting and deceiving with falsehoods
and mean dissimulation; and he was twice, at least, guilty of
theft^-once while stationed in Philadelphia, plundering from
the library of the University of Pennsylvania, a complete
set of that valuable work, L? Encyclopedia, received as a
present from the French Academy of Science by the hands
of Dr. Franklin ; on the other occasion, taking from Dr.
Franklin's residence, which he occupied a while, a portrait
of the philosopher.*

An incident connected with the siege and surrender of
Charleston, serving to illustrate the peculiarities and perils
of the times, will very appropriately find a place here. Rev.
Dr. Percy resided on a plantation not very far from Monk's
Corner, with Mrs. Thomas Legare for a near neighbor.
One day — probably the thirteenth of May — while Mrs. Le-
gare* was present, Mrs. Gibson, a poor woman, was an-
nounced while the family and their visitor was at their meal.
As she was usually the bearer of ill news, her visit very natur-

* Johnson's Life of Greene, i, note 208-209; Johnson's Traditions of the Revolution,
255-257 I Sargent's Life of Andre, 225-228; Almon's Remembrancer, x, 76-77; Dawson's
Battles of the United States, i, 578; Carrington's Battles of the Revolution, 497; Tarleton's
Campaigns, 12,64; Beatson's Naval and Military Memoirs, vi, 203-204; Moore's Diary
of the Revolution, ii, 484; and Lossing's Field Book of the Revolution, ii, 104.

40 KING ' S MO UNTAIN

ally excited the anxiety of all. She exclaimed, " Good morn-
ing people ; have you heard the news? Charleston has fallen,
and the devilish British soldiers have cut to pieces all the
men, all the cats, all the dogs, and now they are coming to
kill all the women and children." Terrified by her excited
and incoherent statement, the ladies looked ready to faint ;
and Dr. Percy cried out, "For shame, Mrs. Gibson ; do you
not know that Mrs. Legare's husband and son are in
Charleston, and you will frighten her to death by your wild
talk." " Bless you, good woman," replied Mrs. Gibson,
turning to Mrs. Legare, " I have a husband and four sons
there, too, and God only knows if any of them live." In
the course of a few days, Mrs. Gibson received the sad in-
telligence that her husband and four sons had all been killed
during the siege.* Such are some of the vicissitudes of
war.

It may well be asked, why did such military men as
Lincoln, Moultrie, Mcintosh, Scott, Woodford and others,
suffer themselves, with a body of brave troops, to be cooped
up in a city which they were not capable of successfully de-
fending ? At first they relied on the promises of Congress
and the Executive authorities of North and South Carolina of
sending near ten thousand men, one-half of whom should
be regulars, for the defence of the place. f In the latter
part of February., it was reported that General Hogan was
advancing with troops from North Carolina ; that General
Moultrie was forming a camp at Bacon's Bridge, which was
subsequently transferred to the command of General Huger ;
that a thousand men were expected from General William-
son's brigade in the region of Ninety Six ; and that the
veteran General Richardson, and Colonel Kershaw, were
embodying the militia of the Camden region. \ General
Richardson sickened and died ; General Moultrie from ill-

* Howe's Hist. Presb. Ch. of South. Carolina, 471.

f Ramsay's Revolution, ii, 59; Gordon's American War, iii, 348; Marshall's Washing-
ton, iv, 141-42;

J Colonel Laurens, in Almon, x, 53 ; Moore's Materials for History, 175.

AND ITS HEROES. 41

ness had to return to the city. Colonel Sumter at that time
had no command, and Marion was hiding away for the
recovery of a broken limb. To enthuse the militia, and
expedite their movements, Governor Rutledge, the Patrick
Henry of South Carolina, and a part of his Councilors, left
the beleaguered city in April ; but they met with little suc-
cess. The people relied too much upon succors from the
North; besides, they were almost destitute of ammunition.

Hogan's party finally reached the city ; and about that
time another North Carolina contingent under General
Lillington, whose term of enlistment expired, mostly
availed themselves of their privilege and retired before the
serious part of the siege had commenced ; and less than
two hundred of the South Carolina militia, probably mostly
from the Charleston region, shared in the defence of the
place. . Congress and the States were alike crippled in
resources, and everything moved tardily. General De Kalb
had started, past the middle of April, with fourteen hundred
Continentals from head quarters in New Jersey ; Colonel
Armand's corps, and Major Nelson's horse, were on the
way; and, as late as the second of May, General Caswell,
of North Carolina, had reached Lanneau's Ferry, on the
Santee, with eight or nine hundred Continentals and militia ;
some militia were being gathered at Orangeburg ; and Col-
onel Buford's and Lieutenant-Colonel Porterfield's Virginia
detachments, were within the borders of the State. Gen-
eral Huger, with Colonel Horry's cavalry, and the remnants
of Colonel White's and Colonel Washington's dragoons,
were scattered somewhere about the country. There was
no concert or unity of action, and probably not sufficient
supplies to admit of their concentration. But all these
hopes of succor to the suffering garrison were as illusive in
the end as the ignis-fatuus to the benighted traveler.

General Lincoln was not altogether destitute of military
supplies ; for he had four hundred pieces of ordnance of
various caliber, for the defence of the city and the neighbor-

42 KING'S MOUNTAIN

ing works ; but the mortars were few, and of shell there
would seem to have been a very limited supply. Powder
was so plenty that there were fifty thousand pounds at the
surrender, besides ten thousand pounds more bricked up at
the Exchange. But even with the aid of six hundred ne-
groes, the defensive works, from their great extent, were
totally inadequate to the purpose ; and had there been force
enough to have properly manned them — of which there was
a sad deficiency — the scanty supply of provisions would
have been all the sooner exhausted. Food supplies had
been stored, in large quantities, to the north eastward of
Charleston ; but from the little value of the depreciated paper
currency, the want of carriages and horses, together with
the bad condition of the roads, they could not be transported
to town before the investiture was completed. With all
these disappointments and discouragements, and the power-
ful army and navy, with all the appliances of war, con-
fronting them for nearly three months, it is not a little sur-
prising that General Lincoln and his brave garrison were
able to hold out so long.

Nor were the whites the only sufferers. As in Prevost's
invasion of 1779, so m Clinton's of 1780, the negro servants
flocked in large numbers to the British army, and were
employed in throwing up their defences and other laborious
operations. Crowded together, they were visited by the
camp fever ; and the small-pox, which had not been in the
Province for seventeen years, broke out among them, and
spread rapidly. From these two diseases, and the impos-
sibility of their being provided with proper accommodations
and attendance in the British encampments, they were left
to die in great numbers in the woods, where they remained
unburied. A few instances occurred, in which infants were
found in unfrequented retreats, drawing the breasts of their
deceased mothers some time after life had expired.*

The reduction of Charleston struck the people with pro-

* Ramsay's Revolution, ii, 67.

AND ITS HEROES. 43

found amazement, coupled with something akin to despair.
The futile attempts of the British against the city in 1776,
and again in 1779, had inspired nearly all classes with a fatal
confidence that their capital city would again escape the
snares of the enemy — to be accomplished in some Providen-
tial way, of which they had no very clear conception. But
in matters of war, as of peace, God helps those who help
themselves. Had the people of South Carolina repaired in
large numbers to their capital, with proper supplies for a
long siege ; or had they, while their fellows were cooped up
within the devoted city, embodied under such men as Sum-
ter, Williamson, Pickens, Kershaw, Williams and other
popular leaders, harassed the besieging army, cut off its
foraging parties, kept the communication open, and encour-
aged the beleaguered garrison to make sorties, and perhaps
capture supplies from their enemies, the approaches of the
British might have been retarded, and the siege prolonged
till, perhaps, the arrival of DeKalb and other forces from
the North.

Could the enemy have thus been retarded, they would
soon have encountered a yet more dangerous foe in the
rapidly approaching hot season, when camp life and expos-
ure in that malarial climate, would have rapidly decimated
their forces. And there was, perhaps, still another end to
be gained by prolonging the siege On the second of May,
a large French fleet, under the Chevalier de Ternay, trans-
porting an army of nearly six thousand of the choicest troops
of France, commanded by the Count de Rochambeau, had
sailed from Brest, destined to aid the young Republic in its
struggle for independence. On the twentieth of June, they
encountered a British fleet, in latitude 300, a little south
of the Bermuda Islands, when some distant exchanging
of shots occurred between them. Several days before this
event, the French fleet had captured a British cutter con-
veying several British officers from Charleston to the Ber-
mudas, by whom they learned of the siege and capture of

44 KING 'S MO UNTAIN

Charleston ; and, soon after taking another vessel, one of
Admiral Arbuthnot's fleet, on its return to New York, they
learned by its papers and passengers a full confirmation
of the fall of the devoted city.*

According to Moultrie, it was the plan of Ternay and
Rochambeau to have attempted the relief of Charleston,
had they not have learned of its capture. Their intention
was, to have entered Ball's Bay, landed the troops at Sevee's
Bay, then marched down to Haddrell's Point, crossing
thence over to Charleston ; " which," says Moultrie, " they
could very easily have done, and would have effectually
raised the siege, and taken the British fleet in Charleston
harbor and in Stono Inlet, and, in all probability, their
whole army. Had the news of this approaching fleet
been known in time by General Lincoln, and the people of
the surrounding country, the defence of the city might have
been prolonged, and, perhaps, the mortification of surren-
der averted — and the salvation of Charleston been celebrated
in history as one of the grandest achievements of the Revo-
lution, f

But all this misadventure was not without its compensa-
tions ; for Rochambeau's fine army landed safely at New-
port, and, in time, joined Washington, giving new life and
hope to the American cause, and sharing in the capture of
Cornwallis the following year. It was a knowledge of the
fitting out of Ternay's fleet, and its probable American des-
tination, that prompted Sir Henry Clinton to hasten the
capture of Charleston, \ and then to expedite the larger part
of his forces to the northward, lest New York should be
attacked and taken by the combined French and American

* Rochambeau's Memoirs, Paris, 1824, i, 241-243; Almon's Remembrancer, x. 273

t Moultrie's Memoirs, ii, 202-203; Johnson's Traditions . 262.

J The British Government had kept a close watch on this large French fleet during the
long period of its fitting out at Brest; and, no doubt, apprised Sir Henry Clinton of the
approaching danger. The Virginia Gazette of May 31st, 1780 has a Philadelphia item
under date of May 9th, saying a gentleman from New York stated, that it was reported in
that city that a French and Spanish fleet was expected upon the American coast, and that
the enterprise against Charleston was to be abandoned.

AND ITS HEROES. 45

troops and navy ; and thus were the Southern Colonies left
with Cornwallis' crippled army, rendering possible the noble
services of Greene, Sumter, and Marion.

Taking advantage of the calm, British detachments
were sent out in all directions to plant the Royal standard,
over-awe the people, and require them to take protection.
Conspicuously observable was the greediness of the con-
querors for plunder. The value of the spoil, which was
distributed by English and Hessian Commissaries of cap-
tures, amounted to about three hundred thousand pounds
sterling ; the dividend of a Major-General exceeded over
four thousand guineas — or twenty thousand dollars. There
was no restraint upon private rapine ; the silver plate of the
planters was carried off; all negroes that had belonged to
Rebels were seized, even though they had themselves sought
an asylum within the British lines ; and, at a single embark-
ation, two thousand were shipped to a market in the West
Indies. British and German officers thought more of
amassing fortunes than of re-uniting the empire. The pa-
triots were not allowed to appoint attorneys to manage or
sell their estates. A sentence of confiscation hung over the
whole land, and British protection was granted only in
return for the unconditional promise of loyalty.*

The dashing Colonel Tarleton had been dispatched with
his cavalry in pursuit of Colonel Buford's regiment, which
had arrived too late to join the Charleston garrison ; and
which were overtaken near the Waxhaw settlement, and
many of them cut to pieces with savage cruelty. One hun-
dred and thirteen of Buford's men were cut down and killed
outright ; a hundred and fifty too badly hacked to be re-
moved, while only fifty-three could be brought as prisoners
to Camden. If anything at this time could have added to
the general depression so prevalent among all classes of
people, it was just such a barbarous butchery as this of

*Ramsay's Revolution, ii, 66-67; Gordon's American IVar, iii, 382; Bancroft's History
United States, x, 305-6.

46 KING'S MOUNTAIN

Tarleton's. The highest encomiums were bestowed by
Cornwallis upon the hero of this sickening massacre.

On the twenty-second day of May, it was proclaimed that
all who should thereafter oppose the King in arms, or hinder
any one from joining his forces, should have his property con-
fiscated, and be otherwise severely punished ; and, on the first
of June, Clinton and Arbuthnot, as Royal Commissioners,
offered by proclamation, pardon to the penitent, on condition
of their immediate return to allegiance ; and to the loyal, the
pledge of their former political immunities, including free-
dom from taxation, save by their own chosen Legislature.
On the third of that month, another proclamation by Clinton,
required all the inhabitants of the Province, " who were now
prisoners on parole" to take an active part in maintain-
ing the Royal Government ; and they were assured, that
"should they neglect to return to their allegiance, they will
be treated as rebels to the Government of the King."

Thus tyrannical measures were advanced step by step
till the poor paroled people could no longer be protected, as
they had been promised, by remaining quietly at home ; but
must take up arms in defence of the Government they ab-
horred, and which was forging chains for their perpetual
enslavement. On the eve of his departure for New York,
leaving the Southern command under Lord Cornwallis,
Clinton reported to his Royal masters in England: " The
inhabitants from every quarter declare their allegiance to
the King, and offer their services in arms. There are few
men in South Carolina who are not either our prisoners or
in arms with us."

A few weeks later, when two prominent men, one who
had filled a high position, and both prominently concerned
in the rebellion, went to Cornwallis to surrender themselves
under the provisions of Clinton and Arbuthnot' s procla-
mation, the noble Earl could only answer that he had no
knowledge of its existence. And thus his Lordship com-
menced his career as Commander-in-Chief of the South-

AND ITS HEROES. 47

ern department, ignoring all ideas and promises of a policy
of moderation. He sowed the wind, and in the end reaped
the whirlwind.

The people of South Carolina, as we have seen, were
not sufficiently aroused to a sense of their danger, until it
was too late to avert it — if, indeed, they, alone and single-
handed, could by any possibility have warded off the great
public calamity. When they learned the appalling news
of the surrender of Charleston, they had little heart to make
any further show of opposition to the power of the British
Government. Many of the country leaders, when detach-
ments of the conquering troops were sent among them, un-
resistingly gave up their arms, and took Royal protection
— among whom were General Andrew Williamson, Gen-
eral Isaac Huger, Colonel Andrew Pickens, Colonel Peter
Horry, Colonel James Mayson, Colonel LeRoy Hammond,
Colonel John Thomas, Sr., Colonel Isaac Hayne, Major
John Postell, Major John Purvis, and many others. Sumter
braved the popular tide for submission, retired alone before
the advancing foe, leaving his home to the torch of the
enemy, and his helpless family without a roof to cover
their defenceless heads, or a morsel oj\food for their susten-
ance ; while Marion, who was accidently injured at Charles-
ton, was conveyed from the city before its final environment,
and was quietly recuperating in some sequestered place in
the swamps of the lower part of the country. And, so far
as South Carolina was concerned,

•' Hope for a season bade the world farewell."

48 KING'S MOUNTAIN

CHAPTER III

1741 to May, 1780.

Early Life of Patrick Ferguson. — Brandywinc Battle — Refrains from
Shooting Washington — Wounded. — Conducts Little Egg Harbor Ex-
pedition.—Nearly Killed by an Accidental Attack by his own Friends.
— Biggin Bridge and Monk's Corner Affair. — Resents Insults to
Ladies. — Siege of Charleston.

No man, perhaps, of his rank and years, ever attained
more military distinction in his day than Patrick Ferguson.
As his name will hereafter figure so prominently in this
narrative, it is but simple justice to his memory, and alike
due to the natural curiosity of the reader, that his career
should be as fully and impartially portrayed as the materials
will permit.

He was the second son of James Ferguson, afterward
Lord Pitfour, of Pitfour, an eminent advocate, and for
twelve years one of the Scotch Judges, and was born in
Aberdeenshire, Scotland, in 1744. ^is mother was Anne
Murray, daughter of Alexander, Lord Elibank. His father,
and his uncle, James Murray, Lord Elibank, were regarded
as men of large culture, equal, in erudition and genius, to
the authors of the Scottish Augustan age. Having acquired
an early education, "young Ferguson," says a British
writer, ''sought fame by a different direction, but was of
equally vigorous and brilliant -powers." When only in his
fifteenth year, a commission was purchased for him, and he
entered the army July twelfth, 1 759, as a Cornet, in the second
or Royal North British Dragoons, serving in the wars of
Flanders and Germany, wherein he distinguished himself
by a courage as cool as it was determined. He soon

AND ITS HEROES. 49

evinced the great purpose of his life — to become conspic-
uously beneficial by professional skill and effort.

Young Ferguson joined the army in Germany soon
after the engagement on the plains of Minden. Some skir-
mishing took place in the subsequent part of that year. On
the thirtieth of June, 1760, the Dragoons, to which he was
attached, with other corps, drove the French cavalry from
the field, and chased their infantry in disorder through
Warbourg, and across the Rymel river, gaining from the
Commander-in-Chief the compliment of having performed
" prodigies of valor." On the twenty-second of August, the
Dragoons defeated a French party near Zierenberg, making
a brilliant charge, and deciding the contest. In the follow-
ing month they captured Zierenberg, with two cannon and
three hundred prisoners. During the year 1761, the
Dragoons were similarly employed ; but suffered much
from the bad quality of the water. Ferguson becoming dis-
abled by sickness, was sent home, and remained the most
of the time in England and Scotland from 1762 until 1768.

On the first of September, in the .latter year, a commis-
sion of Captain was purchased for him in the seventieth
regiment of foot, then stationed in the Caribbee Islands, in
the West Indies, whither he repaired, and performed im-
portant service in quelling an insurrection of the Caribs on
the Island of St. Vincent. These Caribs were a mixture of
the African with the native Indian tribes ; they were brave,
expert in the use of fire-arms, and their native fastnesses
had greatly aided them in their resistance to the Govern-
ment. The troops suffered much in this service.

The regiment remained in the Caribbee Islands till 1773.
About this period, Captain Ferguson was stationed a while
in the peaceful garrison of Halifax, in Nova Scotia ; and
disdaining inglorious ease, he embarked for England, where
he assiduously employed his time in acquiring military
knowledge and science. When the disputes between the
Mother country and her Colonies were verging toward

50 KING ' S MO UNTAIN

hostilities, the boasted skill of the Americans in the use of
the rifle, was regarded as an object of terror to the British
troops. These rumors operated on the genius of Ferguson,
and he invented a new species of rifle, which could be
loaded with greater celerity, and fired with more precision
than any then in use. He could load his newly constructed
gun at the breech, without using the ramrod, and with such
quickness and repetition as to fire seven times in a minute.
He was regarded as the best rifle shot in the British
army, if not the best marksman living — excepting, possi-
bly, his old associate, George Hanger ;* and in adroitness
and celerity in loading and firing, whether prostrate or

*This possible exception should be somewhat qualified. The British writers, including
several who knew whereof they wrote, unite in ascribing this high character to Ferguson's
skill in the use of his improved rifle. Major Hanger, in his Life and Opinions, written
after Ferguson had been twenty years in his grave, claims not simply equal, but superior
skill. The redoubtable Major relates, with no little naivete, this ludicrous anecdote, as
occurring in New York City, in 1782, when Sir Guy Carleton had become Commander in-
Chief of the British forces. Sitting opposite the Major at dinner one day. Sir Guy said:
"Major Hanger, I have been told that you are a most skilful marksman with a rifle-gun — I
have heard of astonishing feats that you have performed in shooting." Thanking him for
the compliment, \ told his Excellency, that "I was vain enough to say, with truth, that
many officers in the army had witnessed my adroitness. I then began to inform Sir Guy
how my old deceased friend, Colonel Ferguson, and myself, had practiced together, who, for
skill and knowledge of that weapon, had been so celebrated, and that Ferguson had ever
acknowledged the superiority of my skill to his, after one particular day's practice, when
I had shot three balls into one hole." Sir Guy replied to this : "I know you are very
expert in this art." Now, had I been quiet, and satisfied with the compliment the Com-
mander-in-Chief paid me, and not pushed the matter further, it had been well for me; but I
replied: "Yes, Sir Guy. I really have reduced the art of shooting with a rifle to such a
nicety, that, at a moderate distance, I can kill a flea with a single ball." At this, Sir Guy
began to stare not a little, and seemed to indicate from the smile on his countenance, that he
thought I had rather out-stepped my usual out-doings in the art. Observing this, I respect-
fully replied: " I see by your Excellency's countenance that you seem doubtful of the
singularity and perfection of my art ; but if T may presume so much, as to dare offer a wager
to my Commander-in-Chief. I will bet your Excellency five guineas that I kill a flea with a
single ball once in eight shots, at eight yards." Sir Guy replied : " My dear Major. I am
not given to lay wagers, but for once I will bet you five guineas, provided you will let the
flea hop." A loud laugh ensued at the table; and. after laughing heartily myself, 1 placed
my knuckle under the table, and striking it from beneath, said : "' Sir Guy, I knock under,
and will never speak of my skill in shooting with a rifle-gun again before you."

Neither Ferguson nor Hancer were aware of a remarkable youth at that time in the
Wheeling region. Lewis Wetzel, who had learned to load but a common rifle as he sped
swiftly through the woods with a pack of Indians at his heels. Killing one of a party, four
others singled out, determined to catch alive the bold young warrior. First, one fell a vic-
tim to his unerring rifle, then another, and finally a third, in the race for life; when the
only survivor stopped short, gave a yell of despair and disappointment, saying : " No
catch dat man — gun always loaded."

AND ITS HEROES. 51

erect, he is said to have excelled the best American fron-
tiersman, or even the expert Indian of the forest. He often
practiced, and exhibited his dexterity in the use of the rifle,
both at Black Heath and Woolwich. Such was his exe-
cution in firing, that it almost exceeded the bounds of
credibility, having very nearly brought his aim at an ob-
jective point almost to a mathematical certainty.

On the first of June, 1776, Captain Ferguson made some
rifle experiments at Woolwich, in the presence of Lord
Townshend, master of ordnance, Generals Amherst and
Hawley, and other officers of high rank and large military
experience. Notwithstanding a heavy rain, and a high wind,
he fired during the space of four or five minutes, at the rate of
four shots per minute, at a target two hundred yards distance.
He next fired six shots in a minute. He also fired, while
advancing at the rate of four miles per hour, four times in a
minute. He then poured a bottle of water into the pan and
barrel of the rifle when loaded, so as to wet every grain of
powder; and, in less than half a minute, he fired it off, as
well as ever, without extracting the ball. Lastly, he hit the
bull's eye target, lying on his back on the ground. Incredi-
ble as it might seem, considering the variations of the wind,
and the wetness of the weather, he missed the target only
three times during the whole series of experiments. These
military dignitaries were not only satisfied but astonished
at the perfection of both his rifle and his practice. On one
of these occasions, George the Third honored him with his
presence ; and, towards the close of the year, a patent was
granted for all his improvements.

According to the testimony of eye-witnesses, he would
check his horse, let the reins fall upon the animal's neck,
draw a pistol from his holster, toss it aloft, catch it as it fell,
aim, and shoot the head off a bird on an adjacent fence.*
"It is not certain," says the British Annual Register for

* General J, W. D. DePeyster's King's Mountain, in Historical Magazine March 1869,
p. 100.

52 KING 'S MO UNTAIN

1 781, " that these improvements produced all the effect in
real service, which had been expected from those astonishing
specimens of them that were displayed in England."

Anxious to take an active part in the American war, a
hundred select men were chosen for his command, whom
he took unwearied pains to instruct in the dextrous use of
his newly invented rifle. In the spring of 1777, he was
sent to America — to him, a much coveted service. Joining
the main army under Sir Henry Clinton, he was placed at
the head of a corps of riflemen, picked from the different
regiments, and soon after participated, under Sir William
Howe, in the battle of Brandy wine, on the eleventh of
September. " General Knyphausen," says a British writer,
" with another division, marched to Chad's Ford, against
the Provincials who were placed there. In this service the
German General experienced very important assistance from
a corps of riflemen commanded by Captain Patrick Fer-
guson, whose meritorious conduct was acknowledged by
the whole British army."

In a private letter from Captain Ferguson, to his kins-
man, Dr. Adam Ferguson, he details a very curious incident,
which occurred while he lay, with his riflemen, in the skirt
of a wood, in front of Knyphausen's division. " We had
not lain long," says Captain Ferguson, " when a Rebel of-
ficer, remarkable by a hussar dress, passed towards our
army, within a hundred yards of my right flank, not per-
ceiving us. He was followed by another, dressed in dark
green and blue, mounted on a bay horse, with a remarkably
high cocked hat. I ordered three good shots to steal near
to and fire at them ; but the idea disgusting me, I recalled
the order. The hussar, in returning, made a circuit, but
the other passed within a hundred yards of us, upon which
I advanced from the wood towards him. Upon my calling,
he stopped ; but after looking at me, he proceeded. I again
drew his attention, and made signs to him to stop, levelling
my piece at him ; but he slowly cantered away. As I was

AND ITS HEROES. 53

within that distance, at which, in the quickest firing, I
could have lodged half a dozen balls in or about him, before
he was out of my reach, I had only to determine ; but it
was not pleasant to fire at the back of an unoffending in-
dividual, who was acquitting himself very coolly of his
duty — so I let him alone. The day after, I had been telling
this story to some wounded officers who lay in the same
room with me, when one of the surgeons, who had been
dressing the wounded Rebel officers, came in, and told us,
that they had been informing him that General Washington
was all the morning with the light troops, and only attended
by a French officer in hussar dress, he himself dressed and
mounted in every point as above described. I am not sorry
that I did not know at the time who it was."*

A British writer suggestively remarks, in this connection,
that, ' ' unfortunately Ferguson did not personally know
Washington, otherwise the Rebels would have had a new
General to seek." Had Washington fallen, it is difficult to
calculate its probable effect upon the result of the struggle of
the American people. How slight, oftentimes, are the inci-
dents which, in the course of events, seem to give direction to
the most momentous concerns of the human race. This sin-
gular impulse of Ferguson, illustrates, in a forcible manner,
the over-ruling hand of Providence in directing the operation
of a man's mind when he himself is least of all aware of it.

There is, however, some doubt whether it was really
Washington whom Ferguson was too generous to profit by
his advantage. James Fenimore Cooper relates, in the
New York Mirror , of April sixteenth, 183 1 , on the authority
of his late father-in-law, Major John P. DeLancey, some
interesting facts, corroborating the main features of the
story. DeLancey was the second in command of Fergu-
son's riflemen, and had seen Washington in Philadelphia

* Percy Anecdotes, Harper's edition, ii, 52 ; British Annual Register, 1781, 51 ; Political
Magazine. 1781, 60; Hist, of War in America, iii, 149; Andrews' Hist 0/ the War, iv, 84 ;
James' Life of Marion, 76-77 ; Irving's Washington, iv, 51-52 ; Day's Pennsylvania Hist.
Colls., 213; National Intelligencer, May, 1851.

54 KING 'S MO UNTAIN

the year before the commencement of the war. " During
the manoeuvres which preceded the battle of Brandywine,''
said Mr. Cooper, "these riflemen were kept skirmishing
in advance of one of the British columns. They had crossed
some open ground, in which Ferguson was wounded in the
arm, and had taken a position in the skirts of a thick wood.
While Captain DeLancey was occupied in arranging a sling
for Ferguson's wounded arm, it was reported that an Ameri-
can officer of rank, attended only by a mounted orderly,
had ridden into the open ground, and was then within point-
blank rifle shot. Two or three of the best marksmen
stepped forward, and asked leave to bring him down. Fer-
guson peremptorily refused ; but he went to the wood, and
showing himself, menaced the American with several rifles,
while he called to him, and made signs to him to come in.
The mounted officer saw his enemies, drew his reins, and
sat looking at them attentively for a few moments.

"A sergeant," continues Mr. Cooper, "now offered to
hit the horse without injuring the rider, but Ferguson still
withheld his consent, affirming that it was Washington re-
connoitering, and that he would not be the instrument of
placing the life of so great a man in jeopardy by so unfair
means. The horseman turned and rode slowly away. To
his last moment, Ferguson maintained that the officer whose
life he had spared was Washington. I have often heard
Captain DeLancey relate these circumstances, and though
he never pretended to be sure of the person of the unknown
horseman, it was his opinion, from some particulars of dress
and stature, that it was the Count Pulaski. Though in
error as to the person of the individual whom he spared,
the merit of Major Ferguson is not at all diminished " by
its supposed correction.

Captain Ferguson, as we have seen, encountered some
American sharp-shooters in the battle as keen and skillful
as himself in the use of the rifle, and received a dangerous
wound which so shattered his right arm, as to forever after

AND ITS HEROES. 55

render it useless.* During the period of his unfitness for
service, General Howe distributed his riflemen among other
corps ; but on his recovery, he again embodied them, and
renewed his former active career. When satisfied that he
would never regain the use of his right hand, he practiced,
and soon acquired the use of his sword, with the left. A
writer in the Political Magazine for 1781, states that Fer-
guson was in the battle of Germantown, on the fourth of
October ensuing — was there wounded, and there came near
bringing his rifle to bear on Washington ; but it is not prob-
able that he was sufficiently recovered of his severe wound
received at Brandywine, to have taken the field three weeks
afterwards — besides, the authorities show, that it was at
Brandywine where he so narrowly escaped the temptation
to try the accuracy of his rifle on the American Commander-
in-Chief, or some other prominent officer, making observa-
tions, and where he was so grievously wounded.

When the British evacuated Philadelphia, in June, 1778,
Captain Ferguson accompanied the retiring forces to New
York, and, of course, participated in the battle of Mon-
mouth on the way. It was fought on one of the hottest days
of the summer, when many of the British soldiers died from
the effects of the heat. For some time after reaching New
York, Captain Ferguson and his rifle corps were not called
on to engage in any active service.

Little Egg Harbor, on the eastern coast of New Jersey,
had long been noted as a place of rendezvous for American
privateers, which preyed largely upon British commerce.
A vast amount of property had been brought into this port,
captured from the enemy. " To destroy this nest of rebel
pirates," as a British writer termed it, an expedition was
fitted out from New York, the close of September, 1778,
composed of three hundred regulars, and a body of one
hundred Royalist volunteers, all under the command of Cap-

* Beatson's Naval and Military Memoirs, vi, 83; Mackenzie's Strictures on Tarle-
ton, 23.

56 KING 'S MO UNTAIN

tain Ferguson. Captain Henry Colins, of the Navy, trans-
ported the troops in eight or ten armed vessels, and shared
in the enterprise. From untoward weather, they were long
at sea. General Washington, hearing of the expedition,
dispatched Count Pulaski and his Legion cavalry, and at
the same time sent an express to Tuckerton, as did also
Governor Livingston, giving information, so that four priva-
teers put to sea- and escaped, while others took refuge up
the Little Egg Harbor river. Ferguson's party reached the
Harbor on the afternoon of the fifth of October, and,
taking his smaller craft, pushed twenty miles up the stream
to Chestnut Neck, where were several vessels, about a dozen
houses, with stores for the reception of the prize goods,
and accommodations for the privateers men. Here were
some works erected for the protection of the place, and a
few men occupying them ; but no artillery had yet been
placed there The prize vessels were hastily scuttled and
dismantled, and the small American party easily driven into
the woods, when Captain Ferguson's force demolished the
batteries, burning ten vessels and the houses in the village.
The British in this affair had none killed, and but a single
soldier wounded. Had he arrived sooner, Ferguson in-
tended to have pushed forward with celerity twenty miles
farther, to uThe Forks," which was accounted only thirty-
five miles from Philadelphia. But the alarm had been
spread through the country, and the local militia had been
reinforced by Pulaski's cavalry, and five field pieces of
Colonel Proctor's artillery ; so the idea of reaching and
destroying the stores and small craft there, had to be aban-
doned.

Returning the next day, October the seventh, down the
river, they reached two of their armed sloops, which had got
aground on their upward passage, and were still fast.
They were lightened, and got off the next morning. Dur-
ing the delay, Captain Ferguson employed his troops,
under cover of the gunboats, in an excursion on the north

AND ITS HEROES. 57

shore, to destroy some principal salt works, also some
stores, dwellings, and Tucker's Mill ; these were sacked
and laid in ashes — all, as was asserted by the British, being
the property of persons concerned in privateering, or
"whose activity in the cause of America, and unrelenting
persecution of the Loyalists, marked them out as the
objects of vengeance." As those persons were pointed out
by the New Jersey Tory volunteers, who accompanied the
expedition, we may well imagine that private pique, and
neighborhood feuds, entered largely into these proscriptions.

To cover Ferguson's expedition, and distract the attention
of Washington, Sir Henry Clinton had detached Lord Corn-
wallis with five thousand men into New Jersey, and General
Knyphausen with three thousand into Westchester county.
Learning of Colonel Baylor's dragoons being at old Tappan,
Cornwallis selected General Grey to surprise them which he
effected much in the same manner as Ferguson subsequently
struck Pulaski's infantry, unawares — eleven having been
killed outright, twenty-five mangled with repeated thrusts,
some receiving ten, twelve, and even sixteen wounds. It
was a merciless treatment of men who sued for quarter.
Among the wounded were Colonel Baylor and Major Clough
— the latter, mortally ; and about forty prisoners taken,
mostly through the humane interposition of one of Grey's
Captains, whose feelings revolted at the orders of his san-
guinary commander — the same commander who had, the
year before, performed a similarly bloody enterprise against
Wayne, at Paoli.

Recalling these predatory parties to New York, Sir
Henry Clinton directed Admiral Gambier to write Captain
Colins in their joint behalf, that they thought it unsafe for
him and Captain Ferguson to remain longer in New Jersey.
But Captain Colins' vessels being wind-bound for several
days, gave Captain Ferguson time for another enterprise.
On the evening of the thirteenth of October, some deserters
from Pulaski's Legion gave information of that corps being

58 KING'S MOUNTAIN

posted, within striking distance, eleven miles up the river ;
when Ferguson formed the design of attempting their sur-
prise.

The chief of these deserters was one Juliet, a renegade
from the Hessians the preceding winter, who was sent by the
Board of War to Pulaski, without a commission indeed,
but with orders to permit him to do the duty of a Sub-Lieu-
tenant in the Legion. This man was treated with such dis-
respect by Lieutenant-Colonel Baron De Bosen, whose high
sense of honor led him to despise a person, who, even though
a commissioned officer, could be guilty of deserting his
colors, that the culprit determined to revenge himself in a
manner that could not have been foreseen or imagined..
Under pretence of fishing, he one day left the camp with
five others, and as they did not return at the proper time,
and it could not be supposed that Juliet would have the har-
dihood to rejoin the enemy, they were thought to have been
drowned. But Juliet had the duplicity to debauch three of
the soldiers, and the other two were forced to go with them.

Pulaski's corps, as the deserters correctly stated, con-
sisted of three companies of infantry, occupying three houses
by themselves, under the Lieutenant-Colonel Baron De
Bosen ; while Pulaski, with a troop of cavalry, was sta-
tioned some distance beyond, with a detachment of artillery,
having a brass field piece. Accordingly Ferguson selected
two hundred and fifty men, partly marines, leaving in boats
at eleven o'clock on the night of the fourteenth ; and, after
rowing ten miles, they reached a bridge at four o'clock the
next morning, within a mile of Pulaski's infantry. The
bridge was seized, so as to cover their retreat, and fifty men
left for its defence. DeBosen's infantry companies were sur-
rounded and completely surprised, and attacked as they
emerged from their houses. "It being a night attack,"
says Ferguson, in his report, "little quarter could, of course,
be given" — so they cut, and slashed, and bayoneted, killing
all who came in their way, and taking only five prisoners.

AND ITS HEROES. 59

The Americans, roused from their slumbers, fought as well
as they could.

The hapless Baron De Bosen, on the first alarm, rushed
out, armed with his sword and pistols ; and though he was a
remarkably stout man, and fought like a lion, he was soon
overpowered by numbers and killed. So far, at least, as
the double-traitor, Juliet,* was concerned, revenge on
De Bosen seems to have been his object ; and his voice
was distinctly heard exclaiming, amid the din and confusion
of the strife : "This is the Colonel — kill him ! " De Bosen's
body was found pierced with bayonets. Lieutenant De
La Borderie, together with some forty of the men, were also
among the slain. It was a sad and sanguinary occurrence.

On the first alarm, Pulaski hastened with his cavalry to
the support of his unfortunate infantry, when the British,
hearing the clattering hoofs, giving note of their approach,
fled in disorder, leaving behind them arms, accoutrements,
hats, blades, etc. Pulaski captured a few prisoners ; but
between the place of conflict and the bridge was very
swampy, over which the cavalry could scarcely walk.
Reaching the bridge, they found the plank thrown off, to
prevent pursuit by the cavalry. The riflemen, and some of
the infantry, however, passed over on the string-pieces, and
fired some volleys on the rear of the retreating foe, which
they returned. "We had the advantage," says Pulaski,
"and made them run again, although they out-numbered
us." As the cavalry could not pass the stream, Pulaski
recalled his pioneers ; and he adds, in his report, that his
party cut off about twenty-five of Ferguson's men in their
retreat, who took refuge in the woods, and doubtless subse-
quently rejoined their friends. Ferguson's loss, as he
reported it, was two killed, three wounded, and one missing.

* Juliet seems not to have been crowned with honors by the British on his return. A
British Diary of the Revolution., published in Vol. iv of the Historical Magazine, p. 136,
under date Newport, R. I., January nth. 1779, states: "In the fleet from Long Island
arrived several Hessians, among them is one Lieutenant Juliet, of the Landgrave regiment
who deserted to the Provincials when the Island was besieged by them, and then went
back to New York. He is under an arrest."

60 KING 'S MO UNTAIN

He attempted to excuse the butchery of Pulaski's unsus-
pecting infantry, by alleging that he learned from the
deserters, who came to him, that the Count had, in public
orders, forbade all granting of quarters — information which
proved to be false, and which Ferguson should never have
trusted, especially on the word of deserters. It is credit-
able, however, to his humanity, amid the excitements and
horrors of war, that he refrained from wantonly destroying
the houses of non-combatants, though they sheltered the
personal effects of his enemies. " We had an opportunity,"
says Ferguson, in his report to Sir Henry Clinton, "of
destroying part of the baggage and equipage of Pulaski's
Legion, by burning their quarters, but, as the houses
belonged to some inoffensive Quakers, who, I am afraid,
have sufficiently suffered already in the confusion of a night's
scramble, I know, Sir, that you will think with us, that the
injury to be thereby done to the enemy, would not have
compensated for the sufferings of these innocent people."

As the fleet were going out of Litde Egg Harbor, the
Zebra, the flag-ship, grounded, and to prevent her from
falling into the hands of the Americans, Captain Colins
ordered her set on fire ; and as the fire reached her guns,
they were discharged, much to the amusement of the Amer-
icans, who beheld the conflagration. Besides their military
operations, Judge Jones, the Royalist historian of New
York, states of Ferguson and his men, that they "plun-
dered the inhabitants, burnt their houses, their churches,
and their barns ; ruined their farms ; stole their cattle, hogs,
horses, and sheep, and then triumphantly returned to New
York " — evidently conveying the idea that this mode of
warfare was not honorable to those who ordered, nor to
those who were engaged in it.

Irving denounces Ferguson's enterprise as " a marauding
expedition, worthy of the times of the buccaneers." Sir
Henry Clinton, on the other hand, reported it to the Home
Government, as a" success, under the direction of that

AND ITS HEROES. 61

very active and zealous officer, Ferguson," while Admiral
Gambier pronounced it " a spirited service." Ferguson fully
accomplished the purpose for which he set out — the destruc-
tion of the vessels, stores, and works at Little Egg Harbor;
and, in addition, inflicted a severe blow on a portion of
Pulaski's Legion.*

During the campaign of 1779, Captain Ferguson was
engaged in several predatory incursions along the coast,
and on the Hudson — having been stationed awhile at Stony
Point before its capture by Wayne ; steadily increasing the
confidence of his superiors, and extorting the respect of the
Americans for his valor and enterprise. On the twenty-fifth
of October, in this year, he was promoted to the rank of
Major in the second battalion of the seventy-first regiment,
or Highland Light Infantry, composed of Frasers, Camp-
bells, McArthurs, McDonalds, McLeods, and many others
of the finest Scotch laddies in the British service.

When Sir Henry Clinton fitted out his expedition against
Charleston, at the close of 1779, ne very naturally selected
Major Ferguson to share in the important enterprise. A
corps of three hundred men, called the American Volunteers,
was assigned for his command — he having the choice of
both officers and soldiers ; and for this special service, he
had given him, the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel. At his
request, Major Hanger's corps of two hundred Hessians
were to be joined to Ferguson's. Early in February, the
seventy-first regiment and Ferguson's corps were sent from
Savannah to Augusta ; and, early in March, the American
Volunteers formed a part of the Georgia troops, who were
ordered, under General Patterson, to march towards Charles-
ton, and join the main force under Sir Henry Clinton.

♦Touching this Little Egg Harbor expedition, see reports of Sir Henry Clinton, Admi-
ral Gambier, Captains Ferguson and Colins, in Altnon x, 150-56; Pulaski's report, Pennsyl-
vania Packet, October 20, 1778; Rivington's Royal Gazette, October 24,1778; Political
Magazine, 1781. p. 60; Marshall's Washington, revised edition, i, 270-71; Reply to Judge
Johnson, vindicating Count Pulaski, by Paul Ber.talou. senior captain in Pulaski's Legion,
1826, 36-37; Irving's Washington, iii, 472-75; Bancroft's History, x, 152 ; Lossing's Field
Book, ii, 529; Barber & Howes' New Jersey, 108-9; an<^ Jones' History of New York
During the Revolutionary War, 1,287.

62 KING ' S MO UN TAIN

On the thirteenth of the month, Lieutenant-Colonel Fer-
guson, with his Volunteers, and Major Cochrane, with the
infantry of Tarleton's Legion, were ordered forward to
secure the passes at Bee Creek, Coosahatchie, and Tully
Finny bridges, about twenty-six miles in advance of the
army, which was as promptly effected as the obstacles in
the way would permit. It was a toilsome march through
swamps and difficult passes, having frequent skirmishes
with the opposing militia of the country. These active offi-
cers, with their light troops, received intelligence of two
parties of mounted Americans at some distance in advance,
and at once resolved to surprise them by a night attack — a
kind of service for which Colonel Ferguson had an especial
fitness, and in which he took unusual delight.

Arriving at nine o'clock in the evening near the spot
from which he meant to dislodge the Americans, at Mc-
Pherson's plantation, Ferguson discovered that they had
decamped, and he consequently took possession of their
abandoned position, camping there for the night, and
awaiting the arrival of the main British force, who were to
pass near it the next morning. Major Cochrane, with his
party, piloted by another route, through swamps and by-
ways, arrived, before morning, just in front of Ferguson's
camp ; and, judging by the fires that the Americans were
still there, led his men to the attack with fixed bayonets.
Ferguson, expecting that the American party might return,
had his picket guard out, who, seeing the approach of what
they regarded as an enemy, gave the alarm, when the
Legion rushed upon them, driving them pell-mell to Fergu-
son's camp, where the aroused American Volunteers were
ready to receive them. " Charge ! " was the word on both
sides ; and, for a little season, the conflict raged. Ferguson,
wielding his sword in his left hand, defended himself, as
well as he could, against three assailants, who opposed him
with fixed bayonets, one of which was unfortunately thrust
through his left arm. When on the point of falling, amid

AND ITS HEROES. 63

the confusion and clashing of arms, Major Cochrane and
Colonel Ferguson, almost at the same moment, recognized
each other's voices, and exerted themselves to put a stop to
the mistaken conflict. Two of Ferguson's men, and one of
the Legion, were killed in this unhappy affair, and several
wounded on both sides. Lieutenant McPherson, of the
Legion, received bayonet wounds in the hand and shoulder.

But for the timely recognition, on the part of the com-
manders, of the mutual mistake, Colonel Ferguson would
most likely have lost his life — "a life," says Major Hanger,
" equally valuable to the whole army, and to his friends."

" It was melancholy enough," wrote a participant in the
affair, near three weeks afterwards, " to see Colonel Fergu-
son disabled in both arms ; but, thank God, he is perfectly
recovered again." Tarleton commends "the intrepidity
and presence of mind of the leaders," in this casual engage-
ment, as having saved their respective parties from a more
fatal termination. "The whole army felt for the gallant
Ferguson," says Hanger ; and the peculiar circumstances
attending this unlucky conflict, long furnished the camp and
bivouac with a melancholy topic of conversation.*

The fleet having crossed the bar, and gained the water
command thence to Charleston, enabled Sir Henry Clinton
to bestow more attention than he had hitherto done, to cut-
ting off the communication's of the Americans between the
city and country. A body of militia, together with the
remains of three Continental regiments of light dragoons,
led by Colonel Washington and others, and all under the
command of General Huger, were stationed at Biggin
Bridge, near Monk's Corner, about thirty miles from
Charleston. To destroy or disperse this party, and thus
prevent supplies of food and reinforcements of men to the
beleaguered city, was a capital object with Sir Henry Clin-
ton ; and its immediate execution was assigned to Colonel

*Tarleton's Campaigns, 7-8; Mackenzie's Strictures on Tarleton, 23; Hanger's Reply
to Mackenzie, 24-25 ; Siege 0/ Charleston. 158-59.

64 KING'S MOUNTAIN

Tarleton and his Legion, to be seconded by Lieutenant-
Colonel Ferguson and his riflemen. Tarleton was dashing,
tireless, and unmerciful. "Ferguson," says Irving, "was
a fit associate for Tarleton, in hardy, scrambling, partisan
enterprise ; equally intrepid and determined, but cooler, and
more open to impulses of humanity."

As a night march had been judged the most advisable,
Tarleton and Ferguson moved, on the evening of April
thirteenth, from Goose creek, half way from Charleston, to
strike, if possible, an effective blow at Huger's camp. Some
distance beyond, a negro was descried attempting to leave
the road, and avoid notice. He was seized, and was dis-
covered to be a servant of one of Huger's officers. A letter
was taken from his pocket, written by his master the pre-
ceding afternoon, which, with the negro's intelligence, pur-
chased for a few dollars, proved a fortunate circumstance for
the advancing party. They learned the relative positions of
Huger's forces, on both sides of Cooper river, and had in
him a guide to direct them there, through unfrequented
paths and by-ways.

Destitute of patrols, Huger was, in effect, taken com-
pletely by surprise ; and the bold and sudden onset, about
three o'clock in the morning of the fourteenth, quickly
scattered the astonished Americans. They had, indeed,
some slight notice of the attack ; but they were not properly
prepared for it. The cavalry was posted on the side of the
river where the first approach was made, and the infantry on
the opposite bank. "Although," says Ramsay, "the com-
manding officer of the American cavalry had taken the pre-
caution of having his horses saddled and bridled, and the
alarm was given by his videttes, posted at the distance of a
mile in front ; yet, being entirely unsupported by infantry,
the British advanced so rapidly, notwithstanding the opposi-
tion of the advanced guard, that they began their attack on
the main body before they could put themselves in a posture
of defence." Then Major Cochrane, with Tarleton's Legion,

AND ITS HEROES. 65

quickly forced the passage of Biggin Bridge, and drove
General Huger and the infantry before him. " In this
affair," says James, "Major James Conyers, of the Ameri-
cans, distinguished himself by a skillful retreat, and by call-
ing off the attention of the enemy from his sleeping friends
to himself. In this surprise, the British made free use of
the bayonet ; the houses in Monk's Corner, then a village,
were afterwards deserted, but long bore the marks of deadly
thrust and much blood-shed."

Several officers, who attempted to defend themselves,
were killed or wounded The assailing party lost but one
officer and two privates wounded, with five horses killed or
disabled. General Huger, Colonel Washington, and Major
Jameson, with most of their troops, fled to the adjacent
swamps and thickets ; while three Captains, one Lieutenant,
and ten privates were killed ; one Major, one Captain, two
Lieutenants, and fifteen privates were wounded, and sixty-
four officers and men, including the wounded, were made
prisoners. Some two hundred horses, from thirty to forty
wagons, and quite a supply of provisions and military
stores, were among the trophies nf the victors. If it was
not a " shameful surprise," as General Moultrie pro-
nounced it, it was, at least, a very distressing affair for the
Americans. Poor General Huger, and his aid, John Izard,
remained in the swamp from Friday morning, the time of
the surprise, till the succeeding Monday ; it was a long fast,
and the exposure produced severe sickness on the part of
the General, causing him to retire awhile from the service.*

Among the American wounded was Major Vernier, a
French officer, who commanded the remains of the Legion
of Count Casimir Pulaski, who had lost his life at Savan-
nah the preceding autumn. "The Major," says Steadman,
a British historian and eye-witness, "was mangled in the
most shocking manner ; he had several wounds, a severe

* Ramsay's Revolution, ii. 64; Moultrie's Memoirs, ii, 72; Tarleton's Campaigns, 15-17;
Steadman's American War, ii, 182-83; James' Life of Marion, 36-37; Siege of Charleston,
124, 164; Simm's South Carolina in the Revolution, 125. 138; Irving's Washington, iv. 51-52.

66 KING'S MOUNTAIN

one behind his ear. This unfortunate officer lived several
hours, reprobating the Americans for their conduct on this
occasion, and even in his last moments cursing the British
for their barbarity, in having refused quarter after he had
surrendered. The writer of this, who was ordered on this
expedition, afforded every assistance in his power, and had
the Major put upon a table, in a public house in the village,
and a blanket thrown over him. In his last moments,
the Major was frequently insulted by the privates of the
Legion." Such merciless treatment of a dying foe, was
eminently befitting the savage character of Tarleton and
his men.

British historians repel, with indignant language, the
charge of permitting the violation or abuse of females to
go unpunished ; yet Commissary Steadman relates a case
highly derogatory of the conduct of some of Tarleton' s
Legion. In the course of this maraud, several of the dra-
goons broke into the house of Sir John Colleton, in
the neighborhood of Monk's Corner, and maltreated and
attempted violence upon three ladies residing there — one, the
wife of a Charleston physician, a most delicate and beauti-
ful woman, was most barbarously treated ; another lady
received one or two sword wounds ; while an unmarried
lady, a sister of a prominent American Major, was also
shamefully misused. They all succeeded in making their
escape to Monk's Corner, where they were protected ; and
a carriage being provided, they were escorted to a house in
that region. The guilty dragoons were apprehended, and
brought to camp, where, by this time, Colonel Webster had
arrived and taken the command. " Colonel Ferguson,"
says Steadman, "was for putting the dragoons to instant
death ; but Colonel Webster did not conceive that his pow-
ers extended to that of holding a general court-martial.*

*It must not be inferred that Colonel Webster, who was the next year killed at
Guilford, was indifferent to such offences; for, we are assured, that to an officer under his
command, who had so far forgotten himself as to offer an insult to a lady, he hurled many
a bitter imprecation, and had him immediately turned out of the regiment. — Political
Magazine, 1781, 342.

AND ITS HEROES. 67

The prisoners were, however, sent to head-quarters, and, I
believe, were afterwards tried and whipped." This decisive
action on the part of Colonel Ferguson was highly credit-
able to his head and his heart. "We honor," says Irving,
" the rough soldier, Ferguson, for the fiat of ' instant death,'
with which he would have requited the most infamous
and dastardly outrage that brutalizes warfare." Tarleton,
possessing none of the finer feelings of human nature,
failed to second Ferguson's efforts to bring the culprits
to punishment; for, "afterwards, in England, he had the
effrontery to boast, in the presence of a lady of respecta-
bility, that he had killed more men, and ravished more
women, than any man in America.''*

The long protracted siege of Charleston was now draw-
ing to a close. In the latter part of April, Colonel Fer-
guson marched down with a party, and captured a small
redoubt at Haddrell's Point, half a mile above Sullivan's
Island ; and, on the seventh of May, he obtained permission
to attack Fort Moultrie, and while upon the march for that
object, he received intelligence of the surrender of the Fort
to Captain Hudson, who was relieved of the command
by Colonel Ferguson. \ And shortly thereafter, General
Lincoln gave up the city he had so long and so valiantly
defended.

*Steadman's American War, ii, 183; Irving's Washington, iv, 52-53; Garden's Anec-
dotes, Field's Brooklyn edition, 1865, ii, App'x viii: Mrs. Warren's Hist. Am. Revolution,
ii, 197-

f Siege 0/ Charleston, 165-66; Tarleton's Campaigns, 50.

68 KING 'S MO UNTAIN

CHAPTER IV.

1780— May— July.

Colonel Ferguson sent to the District of Ninety Six. — Organizing the
Local Militia. — Major Hanger s account of the up-country inhabi-
tants— his own bad reputation. — Ferguson's seductive promises to
the people. — The Tory, David Fanning.— Ferguson 's adaptation to
his Mission — Mrs. Jane Thomas adventure. — Colonel Thomas repels
a Tory assault at Cedar Spring. — Ferguson advances to Fair Forest.
— Character of the Tories— Stories of their plunderings.— Colonels
Clarke and Jones of Georgia — the latter surprises a Tory camp. —
Dunlap and Mills attack McDowell's ca7np on North Pacolet.—
Captain Hampton' s pursuit and defeat of the Tories.

On the reduction of Charleston, Sir Henry Clinton
was, for the ensuing few weeks, busily employed in issuing
proclamations and forming plans for the complete subjuga-
tion of the Carolinas and Georgia. He had on the eigh-
teenth of May, dispatched Lord Cornwallis with a strong
force on the north-east side of the Santee to Camden ; while
Colonel Ferguson, at the same time, with a hundred and
fifty to two hundred men of the Provincial corps, marched
from Nelson's Ferry via Colonel Thomson's; Beaver creek,
and the Congaree Store, crossing the Saluda above the
mouth of Broad river ; thence on to Little river and Ninety
Six, where they arrived on the twenty-second of June. They
performed their marches in the cool of the morning, and now
and then apprehended prominent Whigs on the route. His
orders were to have a watch-care over the extended district
of country from the Wateree to the Saluda, well nigh a
hundred miles. Resuming his march he passed on to
Ninety Six, whence, after a fortnight's rest, he advanced
some sixteen miles, and selected a good location on Little

AND ITS HEROES. 69

river, where he erected some field works, while most of
his Provincials pushed on to the Fair Forest region.* This
camp was at the plantation of Colonel James Williams,
in what is now Laurens County, near the Newberry line,
where the British and Tories long maintained a post, a part
of the time under General Cunningham, till the enemy
evacuated Ninety Six the following year.f

Sir Henry Clinton had directed Major Hanger to repair
with Colonel Ferguson to the interior settlements, and,
jointly or separately, to organize, muster, and regulate all
volunteer corps, and inspect the quantity of grain and num-
ber of cattle, etc., belonging to the inhabitants, and report
to Lord Cornwallis, who would be left in command of the
Southern Provinces.! The powers of this wrarrant were
very extensive to meet the exigencies of the case. It
was needful that commissioners should be sent out prop-
erly authorized to receive the submission of the people,
administer oaths of fealty, and exact pledges of faithful
Royal service. It was needful, also, that the young men of
the country should be thoroughly drilled and fitted for recruits
for Cornwallis' diminished forces ; and it was equally neces-
sary for that commander to know where the necessary sup-
plies of grain and meat could be found. It will thus be
seen how comprehensive was this mission and its purposes.

Nor were these the only powers vested in these officers.
All Royal authority had, for several years, been superseded
by enactments and appointments of the newly created
State, and these, of necessity, must be ignored. So Colonel

*Tarleton's Memoirs,- 26, 80, 87, ioo; O'Neall's Hist, of Newberry, 197.

f Williams' place was about a mile west of Little river, and between that stream and
Mud Lick creek, on the old Island Ford road, followed by General Greene when he
retreated from Ninety Six, in 1781. Ferguson's camp was near the intersection of a road
leading to Laurens C H., about sixteen miles distant. MS. letters of General A. C
Garlington. July 19th and 28th, 1880, on authority of Colonel James W. Watts, a descendant
of Colonel Williams and Major T. K. Vance and others. D. R. Crawford, of Martin's Depot,
S. C, states that three miles above the old Williams' place, on the wrst side of Little river,
opposite the old Milton store, must have been an encampment, as old gun barrels and gun
locks have been found there.

\ Hanger's Life and Opinions, ii, 401-2.

70 KING 'S MO UNTAIN

Ferguson and Major Hanger had superadded to their mili-
tary powers, authority to perform the marriage service.
Whether they had occasions to officiate, we are not
informed. However this may have been, the Major
evidently formed no high estimate of the beauties of the
up-country region. " In the back parts of Carolina," says
Major Hanger, "you may search after an angel with as
much chance of finding one as a parson ; there is no such
thing — I mean, when I was there. What they are now, I
know not. It is not impossible, but they may have become
more religious, moral, and virtuous, since the great affec-
tion they have imbibed for the French. In my time, you
might travel sixty or seventy miles, and not see a church,
or even a schism shop — meeting-house. I have often
called at a dog-house in the woods, inhabited by eight or
ten persons, merely from curiosity. I have asked the
master of the house : ' Pray, my friend, of what religion
are you?' 'Of what religion, sir?' 'Yes, my friend, of
what religion are you — or, to what sect do you belong?'
' Oh ! now I understand you ; why, for the matter of that,
religion does not trouble us much in these -parts?

"This distinguished race of men," continues Hanger,
"are more savage than the Indians, and possess every one
of their vices, but not one of their virtues. I have known
one of these fellows travel two hundred miles through the
woods, never keeping any road or path, guided by the sun
by day, and the stars by night, to kill a particular person
belonging to the opposite party. He would shoot him
before his own door, and ride away to boast of what he had
done on his return. I speak only of back-woodsmen, not
of the inhabitants in general of South Carolina ; for, in all
America, there are not better educated or better bred men
than the planters. Indeed, Charleston is celebrated for the
splendor, luxury, and education of its inhabitants : I speak
only of that heathen race known by the name of Crackers." *

Such were Major Hanger's representations of the back-

* Hanger's Life and Opinions, ii, 403-5.

AND ITS HEROES. 71

woods people of Carolina in his recorded reminiscences of
twenty-one years thereafter. His slurs and insinuations on
the virtues and morals of the " angels,' ' probably referring
to the females of the country, may well be taken with
many grains of allowance, coming, as they do, from the
intimate friend and associate of the profligate Prince Regent
of England, and Colonel Tarleton, both in turn the keeper
of the beautiful, but fallen "Perdita;" and, moreover, his
own reputation in America was that of a sensualist. The
probabilities are, that he met with well-deserved rebuffs and
rebukes from the ladies of the up-country of Carolina, and
did not long remain there to thrust his insults upon a virtu-
ous people. As if anticipating his own rich deservings, he
gives, in his "Life," and "Advice to ye Lovely Cyprians,"
a portrait of himself, dressed in his regimentals, and sus-
pended from a gibbet. Yet, in the end, he "robbed the
hangman of his fees," and the gallows of its victim.

In a letter from Lord Cornwallis to Sir Henry Clinton,
June thirtieth, 1780, he mentioned having dispersed Lieu-
tenant-Colonel Balfour's detachment from the Forks of the
Santee, by the Congarees, to Ninety Six, while he and
Lieutenant-Colonel Innes, and Major Graham, are giving
orders for the militia of those districts ; and then adds, con-
firmatory of Major Hanger's representation of the mixed
character of Colonel Ferguson's services : "I have ordered
Major Ferguson," says his Lordship, uto visit every district
in the Province as fast as they get the militia established, to
procure lists of each, and to see that my orders are carried
into execution. I apprehend that his commission of Major-
Commandant of a regiment of militia, can only take place
in case a part of the second-class should be called out for
service, the home duty being more that of a Justice of Peace
than of a soldier.''*

Major Hanger did not remain many weeks with Colonel
Ferguson in the Little river region ; for, early in August,

* Life and Cor. of Lord Cornwallis, i; 486.

72 KING ' S MO UNTAIN

he entered Tarleton's Legion as Major, to which he had
recently been appointed, and participated in the battle of
Camden, and in the affair at Charlotte. In his reckless
manner of expression, the Major remarks, that had he
remained with Ferguson, he might have shared the same
fate as he did at King's Mountain; and, "if, indeed, as
Mahomet is said to have done, I could have taken my flight
to Paradise on a jackass, that would have been a pleasant
ride ; but Fate destined me for other things."

"We come not," declared Ferguson, "to.make war on
women and children, but to relieve their distresses." This
sounded grateful and pleasant to the ears of the people — a
large majority of whom, under the leadership of the Cun-
ninghams, Fletchall, Robinson, and Pearis, were at heart
Loyalists, and honored the King and Parliament. To
Colonel Ferguson's standard, while encamped at Little
river, the Tories of the country flocked in large numbers.
Companies and regiments were organized, and many offi-
cers commissioned for the Royal service. David Fanning,
who had long resided in Orange and Chatham Counties, in
the North Province, subsequently so notorious as a Tory
leader for his dare-devil adventures and bloody work gener-
ally, was among those who repaired to Ferguson's encamp-
ment ; and evidently, on his personal recommendation and
influence, secured, in July, from Colonel Ferguson, com-
missions, from Ensign to Captain, for no less than sixty-two
persons in the five Counties of Anson, Chatham, Cumber-
land, Orange, and Randolph, in North Carolina, whose
names and residence he records in his published Narrative.
Fanning and Captain Richard Pearis had received General
Williamson's submission, and granted protection to him
and his followers ; and three days thereafter to Colonel
Pickens. Colonel Robert Cunningham had taken the com-
mand in the Ninety Six region, and formed a camp of
Loyalists ; * and British authority was fully recognized in
all the up-country of South Carolina.

* Farming's Narrative, 12, 13, 19-21.

AND ITS HEROES, 73

The younger men were thoroughly drilled by Colonel
Ferguson and his subordinates in military tactics, and fitted
for active service. No one could have been better qualified
for this business than the distinguished partisan whom Sir
Henry Clinton had selected for the purpose. He seemed
almost a born commander. His large experience in war,
and partiality for military discipline, superadded to his
personal magnetism over others, eminently fitted him for
unlimited influence over his men, and the common people
within his region. He was not favored, however, with a
commanding personal presence. He was of middle stature,
slender make, possessing a serious countenance ; yet it was
his peculiar characteristic to gain the affections of the men
under his command. He would sit down for hours, and
converse with the country people on the state of public
affairs, and point out to them, from his view, the ruinous
effects of the disloyalty of the ring-leaders of the rebellion
— erroneously supposing that it was the leaders only who
gave impulse to the popular up-rising throughout the Colo-
nies. He was as indefatigible in training them to his way
of thinking, as he was in instructing them in military exer-
cises. This condescension on his part was regarded as
wonderful in a King's officer, and very naturally went far
to secure the respect and obedience of all who came within
the sphere of his almost magic influence.*

Parties were sent out to scour the north-western portion
of South Carolina, and apprehend all the Rebel leaders
who could be found. Among those who had taken protec-
tion, and were yet hurried off as prisoners to Ninety Six,
was Colonel John Thomas, Sr., of the Fair Forest settle-
ment, then quite advanced in life. His devoted wife rode
nearly sixty miles to visit him, and convey to him such com-
forts as she had it in her power to bestow. While there,
Mrs. Thomas overheard a conversation between some Tory
women, of which her quick ear caught these ominous

* Political Magazine, March, 1781, 125.

74 KING ' S MO UNTAIN

words : " The Loyalists intend, to-morrow night, to surprise
the Rebels at Cedar Spring." This intelligence was enough
to thrill a mother's heart, for Cedar Spring was but a few
miles beyond her Fair Forest home, and with the Whig
force were many of her friends and neighbors, and some
even of her own children. No time was to be lost — she
intuitively resolved to do her best to apprise them of the
enemy's intention before the meditated blow could be
struck. She started early the next morning, and reached
Cedar Spring that evening in time to give them warning
of the impending danger, when she quietly repaired to her
home, conscious of having done her duty to her country, as
well as performed an act of the noblest humanity.*

This was on the twelfth day of July, f Colonel John
Thomas, Jr., the son of our heroine, had succeeded his
father in command of the Fair Forest regiment, and headed
the small band, some sixty in number, now encamped at
the Cedar Spring. \ Joseph Mcjunkin was one of the
party. It seems to have been a camp formed for collecting
the regiment, and drilling them, preparatory to joining
Sumter. On receiving the timely intelligence of the
intended British attack, Colonel Thomas and his men, after
a brief consultation, retired a small distance in the rear of
their camp fires, and awaited the impending onset. The
enemy, one hundred and fifty strong, rushed upon the
camp, where they expected to find the luckless Rebels pro-

*In crediting Mrs. Jane Thomas with this heroic act, we are aware that Mills, in his
Statistics of South Carolina, has accorded it to Mrs. Mary Dillard ; but the uniform testi-
mony of the Thomas family, including Major Mcjunkin, who married a daughter of Col-
onel Thomas, gives the narrative as we have substantially related it. The occasion of her
visit to Ninety Six, and residing in the neighborhood of Cedar Spring, go far to sustain this
view of the matter. Mrs. Dillard, on the other hand, lived fully thirty miles south-east of
Cedar Spring, and south of the Enoree river, in Lauren's District— and on the route Tarle-
ton pursued when on his way to attack Sumter at Blackstock's on Tyger ; and Tarleton
relates, that "a woman on horseback had viewed the line of march from a wood, and, by a
nearer road, had given intelligence " to Sumter. That woman was Mrs. Dillard.

1 Compare McCall's Georgia, ii, 310; Moore's Diary, ii, 351 ; and Allaire's Diary, July
14th and 15th.

I Cedar Spring derived its name from a large cedar tree, that formerly ornamented the
banks of this fine spring, which is about fifty feet in circumference. It has three principal
fountains or sources of supply, which force the water from the bowels of the earth, forming
a beautiful basin three feet deep. The water is impregnated with a small portion of lime.

AND ITS HEROES. 75

foundly enwrapped in slumber ; but, on the contrary, they
were wide awake, and astonished the assailants with a
volley of rifle balls. Several were slain, and the survivors
scampered off badly demoralized. It was a short, quick,
and decisive affair. Among the slain was a Tory named
John White, well known to Major Mcjunkin, and who,
in the early part of the war, had declined bearing arms
against the Indians, on the trumped-up plea of being a non-
combatant.* It was fortunate for Thomas' party, that
this was a night attack, as the enemy had no opportunity
of discovering their decided superiority ; and doubtless
retired with the belief that the Americans must have num-
bered several hundred. This embodying of the friends of
liberty in the Fair Forest settlement, probably hastened the
movement of Ferguson to that quarter.

When Colonel Ferguson left his camp on Little river,
he crossed the Enoree at Kelly's Ford, and encamped in the
Fork, at the plantation of Colonel James Lyles, who was
then in service farther east, with Sumter. John Robison
and others of this region were plundered by Ferguson's
men. The desperate, the idle, the vindictive, who sought
plunder or revenge, as well as the youthful Loyalists, whose
zeal or ambition prompted them to take up arms, all found
a warm reception at the British camp ; and their progress
through the country was u marked with blood, and lighted
up with conflagration.'' Irving graphically describes the
character of these Tory recruits : " Ferguson," says Irving,
" had a loyal hatred of Whigs, and to his standard flocked
many rancorous Tories, beside outlaws and desperadoes, so
that with all his conciliating intentions, his progress through
the country was attended by many exasperating excesses."

To coerce the Whigs to submission, and embodv the
Tories, and train them for war, Ferguson kept moving
about the country, and sending out his detachments in every

* Major Mcjunkin's MS. Statement, among the Saye papers; Mr. Saye's Memoir of
Mcjunkin, also Judge O'Neall's, in the Magnolia Magazine for Jan., 1843; Hist. Presbyte-
rian C/t. 0/ So. Carolina, 534.

76 KING'S MOUNTAIN

direction. In the prosecution of these designs, he marched
into Union District, camping on the south side of Tyger
river, about half a mile below Blackstock's Ford, where
the cripple spy, Joseph Kerr, made such observations as he
could, and returned with the intelligence to Colonel Mc-
Dowell, that about fifteen hundred of the enemy were
penetrating the country ;* and thence Ferguson passed into
the settlement then called "The Quaker Meadow," but
since known as the Meadow Woods. On Sugar creek,
a southern tributary of Fair Forest creek, \ resided a
number of determined Whigs named Blasingame, one of
whom was arrested. Thence Ferguson moved up into
the Fair Forest settlement, on the main creek of that
name, camping at different times at McClendon's old field ;
then between where J. Mcllwaine and J. H. Kelso since
lived ; thence to where Gist resided a few years since, and
thence to Cunningham's. He camped a while at Fair Forest
Shoal, in Brandon's Settlement ; and subsequently for three
weeks on a hill, on the present plantation of the Hon. John
Wmsmith, eleven miles south of Cedar Spring, and two
south of Glenn's Springs. During this period of several
weeks, the Tories scoured all that region of country daily,
plundering the people of their cattle, horses, beds, wearing
apparel, bee-gums, and vegetables of all kinds — even wrest-
ing the rings from the fingers of the females. Major Dun-
lap and Lieutenant Taylor, with forty or fifty soldiers, called
at a Mrs. Thomson's, and taking down the family Bible
from its shelf, read in it, and expressed great surprise that
persons having such a book, teaching them to honor the
King and obey magistrates, should rebel against their King
and country ; but amid these expressions of holy horror,

* Kerr's M,S. personal statement, communicated by Colonel J. H. Wheeler; Hunter's
Sketches of Western North Carolina, 120-21.

t " What a fair forest is this ! " exclaimed the first settlers. The name attached itself
to the place, and then to the bold and lovely mountain stream, which sweeps on till its
waters mingle with those of Broad river.— Rev. James H. Saye's Memoir of Major foseph
Mcfunkin, and Sketches of the Revolutionary History of South Carolina, an interesting
newspaper series published over thirty years ago.

AND ITS HEROES. 77

these officers suffered their troops to engage in ransacking
and plundering before their very eyes.

From what we have seen, it is not wonderful that the
Tories were soon as heartily despised by the British officers
as by their own countrymen, the Whigs. But Ferguson
was not the man to be diverted from his purpose by any
acts of theirs of treachery and inhumanity. The crown
had honors and rewards to bestow, and his eye rested upon
them. He knew that "the defender of the faith" generally
gave much more cash and more honors, for a single year of
devoted service in military enterprises, than for a life-time
spent in such pursuits as exalt and ennoble human nature.

The horses of Ferguson's men were turned loose in to any
fields of grain that might be most convenient. Foraging
parties brought in cattle to camp for slaughter, or wantonly
shot them down in the woods and left them. As many
Whigs as could be found were apprehended, not even
excepting those who had previously taken protection. A
few had been prompted to take protection, rather than for-
sake their families, trusting thereby to British honor to
secure them from molestation ; but they were soon hurried
off to Ninety Six, and incarcerated in a loathsome prison,
where they well nigh perished for want of sustenance. But
most of those, at this time, capable of bearing arms, had
retired to North Carolina, or were serving in Sumter's
army ; so that Ferguson had an excellent opportunity to
drill his new recruits, and support his men by pillaging the
people. Occasionally small parties of Whigs would venture
into the neighborhood — about often enough to afford the
enemy good exercise in pursuing them while within striking
distance.*

Such an invasion as Ferguson's, with its terrors and
aggravations, and the up-rising of the Tories in the western
part of North Carolina, under the Moores, and Bryan, soon
led to blows, with all the sufferings attendant on war and

♦Saye's MSS., and Memoir of Mcjunkin.

78 KING >S MO UNTAIN

carnage. The barbarities meted out to the Americans at
Buford's defeat, sarcastically denominated by the Whigs as
Tarletoris quarters, very naturally tended to embitter
the animosities of the people. The Moores were signally
defeated, in June, at Ramsour's Mill, and Bryan and his
followers subsequently driven from the country.

A noted partisan of Georgia, Colonel Elijah Clarke, now
comes upon the scene. A native of Virginia, he early settled
on the Pacolet, whence he pushed into Wilkes County,
Georgia, where the Revolutionary out-break found him.
He was one of those sturdy patriots, well fitted for a
leader of the people — one who would scorn to take protec-
tion, or yield one iota to arbitrary power. When British
detachments were sent into various parts 01 Georgia, it
became unsafe for such unflinching Whigs as Clarke longer
to remain there. He and his associates resolved to scatter
for a few days, visit their families once more, and then retire
into South Carolina, where they hoped to find other heroic
spirits ready to co-operate with them in making a stand
against the common enemy. Some small parties had already
left Georgia, and passing along the western frontiers of
South Carolina, had sought the camp of Colonel Charles
McDowell, who was then embodying a force on the south-
western borders of the North Province.

On the eleventh of July, one hundred and forty well-
mounted and well-armed men met at the appointed place of
rendezvous ; and, after crossing the Savannah at a private
ford in the night, they learned that the British and Loyalists
were in force on their front. Clarke's men concluded that
it would be hazardous to continue their retreat on that route
with their present numbers. As they were volunteers, and
not subject to coercion, Colonel Clarke was induced to return
to Georgia, suffer his men to disperse for a while, and await
a more favorable opportunity to renew the enterprise. The
majority of the party returned.

Colonel John Jones, of Burke County, however, objected

AND ITS HEROES. 79

to a retrograde movement, and proposed to lead those who
would go with him, through the woods to the borders of
North Carolina, and join the American force in that quarter.
Thirty-rive men united with him, choosing him for their
leader, and John Freeman for second in command, pledg-
ing implicit obedience to their orders. Benjamin Lawrence,
of South Carolina, a superior woodsman, and well ac-
quainted with the country, now joined the company, and
rendered them valuable service as their guide. Passing
through a disaffected region, they adroitly palmed them-
selves off as a Loyalist party, engaged in the King's ser-
vice ; and, under this guise, they were in several instances,
furnished with pilots, and directed on their route.

When they had passed the head-waters of the Saluda,
in the north-eastern part of the present county of Green-
ville, one of these guides informed them, that a party of
Rebels had, the preceding night, attacked some Loyalists
a short distance in front, and defeated them — doubtless the
British repulse at Cedar Spring, as already related, and
which occurred some twenty-five or thirty miles away. Jones
expressed a wish to be conducted to the camp of those un-
fortunate Loyalist friends, that he might aid them in taking
revenge on those who had shed the blood of the King's
faithful subjects. About eleven o'clock on that night, July
thirteenth, Jones and his little party were conducted to the
Loyalist camp, where some forty men were collected to
pursue the Americans who had retreated to the North.
Choosing twenty-two of his followers, and leaving the bag-
gage and horses in charge of the others, Colonel Jones
resolved to surprise the Tory camp. Approaching the
enemy with guns, swords, and belt-pistols, they found them
in a state of self-security, and generally asleep. Closing
quickly around them, they fired upon the camp, killing
one and wounding three, when thirty-two, including the
wounded, called for quarter, and surrendered. Destroying
the useless guns, and selecting the best horses, the Loyal-

80 KING >S MO UNTAIN

ists were paroled as prisoners of war ; when the pilot, who
did not discover the real character of the men he was
conducting until too late to have even attempted to pre-
vent the consequences, was now required to guide the
Americans to Earle's Ford on North Pacolet river, where a
junction was formed the next day with Colonel McDowell's
forces. As McDowell had that day made a tedious inarch
with his three hundred men, they, too, were in a fatigued
condition.

Within striking distance of McDowell's camping ground,
some twenty miles in a nearly southern direction, was Prince's
Fort, originally a place of neighborhood resort in time of
danger from the Indians, in the early settlement of the
country, some twenty years before. This fort, now occu-
pied by a British and Tory force, under Colonel Innes, was
located upon a commanding height of land, near the head
of one of the branches of the North Fork of Tyger, seven
miles north of west from the present village of Spartanburg.
Innes, unapprised of McDowell's approach, detached Major
Dunlap, with seventy dragoons, accompanied by Colonel
Ambrose Mills, with a party of Loyalists, in pursuit of
Jones, of whose audacious operations he had just received
intelligence.

McDowell's camp was on rising ground on the eastern
side of the North Pacolet, in the present county of Polk,
North Carolina, near the South Carolina line, and about
twenty miles south-west of Rutherfordton ; and Dunlap
reaching the vicinity on the opposite side of the stream dur-
ing the night, and supposing that Jones' party only was en-
camped there, commenced crossing the river, which was
narrow at that point, when an American sentinel fled to camp
and gave the first notice of the enemy's presence.* Dunlap,
with his Dragoons and Tories, dashed instantly, with drawn
swords, among McDowell's men, while but few of them

* McCall, in his Hist, of Georgia, asserts that the sentinel fired his gun, but James
Thompson, one of Joseph McDowell's party, states as in the text, which seems to be cor-
roborated by the complaint of Col. Hampton, and the general surprise of the camp.

AND ITS HEROES. 81

were yet roused out of sleep. The Georgians being nearest
to the ford, were the first attacked, losing two killed and six
wounded ; among the latter was Colonel Jones, who received
eight cuts on his head from the enemy's sabres. Freeman,
with the remainder, fell back about a hundred yards, where
he joined Major Singleton, who was forming his men behind
a fence ; while Colonels McDowell and Hampton soon
formed the main body on Singleton's right. Being thus
rallied, the Americans were ordered to advance, when Dun-
lap discovering his mistake as to their numbers, quickly re-
treated across the river, which was fordable in many places,
and retired without much loss ; its extent, however, was un-
known, beyond a single wounded man who was left upon
the ground.

Besides the loss sustained by the Georgians, six of Mc-
Dowell's men were killed, and twenty-four wounded.
Among the killed were Noah Hampton, a son of Colonel
Hampton, with a comrade named Andrew Dunn Young
Hampton, when roused from his slumbers, was asked his
name; he simply replied "Hampton," one of a numerous
family and connection of Whigs, too well known, and too
active in opposition to British rule, to meet with the least
forbearance at the hands of enraged Tories ; and though he
begged for his life, they cursed him for a Rebel, and ran him
through with a bayonet. Young Dunn also suffered the
same cruel treatment. Colonel Hampton felt hard towards
Colonel McDowell, his superior officer, as he wished to
have placed videttes beyond the ford, wrhich McDowell
opposed, believing it entirely unnecessary. Had this been
done, due notice would in all probability have been given,
and most of the loss and suffering have been averted.*

* McCali's Hist, of Georgia, ii. 308-12: Saye's MSS.; MS. pension statements of Gen-
eral Thomas Kennedy, of Kentucky, Robert Henderson, and Robert McDowell; Moore's
Diary 0/ the Revolution, ii. 351, gives the date of the Pacolet fight as occurring "in the
night of July fifteenth," and this on the authority of Govenor Rutledge, who was then at
Charlotte. Judging from Allaire's Diary, it must have been the night before. The par-
ticulars of the killing of young Hampton and Dunn are derived from the MS. communi-
cations of Adam, Jonathan, and James J. Hampton, grandsons of Colonel Hampton.

82 KING ' S MO UNTAIN

The reason, presumably, why Colonel McDowell was
over-confident of security was, that he had, the da}' before,
detached his brother, Major Joseph McDowell, with a party
to go on a scout, and ascertain, if possible, where the Tories
lay ; but taking a wrong direction, he had consequently
made no discovery.* Not returning, Colonel McDowell
very naturally concluded that there was no portion of the
enemy very near, and that he and his weary men could,
with reasonable assurance of safety, take some needed
repose. It was that very night, while Major McDowell
was blundering on the wrong route, that Dunlap was able
to advance undiscovered, and make his sudden attack.

Before sunrise the ensuing morning, fifty-two of the
most active men, including Freeman and fourteen of his
party, mounted upon the best horses in the camp, were
ordered to pursue the retreating foe, under the command
of Captain Edward Hampton. After a rapid pursuit of two
hours, they overtook the enemy, fifteen miles away ; and
making a sudden and unexpected attack, completely routed
them, killing eight of them at the first fire. Unable to rally
his demoralized men, who had been taken unawares, Dun-
lap made a precipitate, helter-skelter retreat towards Fort
Prince, during which several of his soldiers were killed and
wounded. The pursuit was continued within three hundred
yards of the British fort, in which three hundred men were
securely posted. At two o'clock in the afternoon, Hamp-
ton and his men returned to McDowell's camp, with thirty-
five good horses, dragoon equipage, and a considerable
portion of the enemy's baggage, as the trophies of victory,
and without the loss of a single man. It was a bold and
successful adventure, worthy of the heroic leader and his
intrepid followers.

It is not a little remarkable, that three successive night
fights should have occurred within a few miles of each

* Statement of Captain James Thompson, of Madison County, Georgia, one of Major
McDowell's party, preserved among the Saye MSS.

AND ITS HEROES. 83

other, and the two latter as military sequences of the former.
First, the Tory attack on Colonel Thomas, at Cedar Spring,
on the evening of the thirteenth of July ; then Colonel Jones'
surprise of the remnant of this Loyalist party, on the night
of the fourteenth ; and finally, the attack of Dunlap and
Mills, in retaliation, on Colonel McDowell's camp, at
Earle's Ford of North Pacolet, on the night of the fifteenth.
And in all three of these affairs, the Tories got the worst
of it.

McCall's Georgia, ii, 312-13; and MS. pension statement of Jesse Neville, one of
Hampton's party. It may not be inappropriate, in this connection, to add a few words
relative to the hero of this courageous exploit. Captain Hampton was a brother of Colonels
Wade, Richard, and Henry Hampton, of Sumter's army. He was a very active partisan,
and reputed one of the best horsemen of his time. In May, 1775; with his brother, Preston
Hampton, he was delegated by the people of the frontiers of South Carolina to visit the
Cherokees, and see if, by a suitable "talk," they could not be made to comprehend the
causes of the growing differences between the Colonies and the mother country. They
met with a rude reception, Cameron and the British emissaries instigating the Indians to
oppose their views ; and Cameron made them prisoners, giving their horses, a gun, a case
of pistols and holsters, to the Indians. By some means, they escaped with their lives.

The following year, 1776, while Edward Hampton was, with his wife, on a visit to her
father, Baylis Earle, on North Pacolet, the Cherokees made an incursion into the valleys
of Tyger. massacring Preston Hampton, his aged parents, and a young grandchild of
theirs. Edward Hampton served on Williamson's expedition against the Cherokees, in the
summer and autumn of that year; and though only a Lieutenant, he had the command of
his company, and distinguished himself in a battle with the enemy, receiving the special
thanks of his General for his bravery and good conduct on the occasion.

After the destruction of the Hampton family, on the Middle Fork of Tyger, where he
resided, he seems to have made his home for a season on a plantation he possessed at
Earle's Ford, where his father-in-law, Mr. Earle, resided. That he was the Captain
Hampton who led the dashing foray against Dunlap on his retreat to Prince's Fort, is par-
tially corroborated by Dr. Howe, in his History of the Presbyterian Church in South
Carolina, p, 542, though erroneous as to the place of the occurrence; but Jesse Neville's
pension statement renders the matter conclusive, supplying the first name of his Captain,
which McCall fails to give in his details of that affair.

Captain Hampton was killed the ensuing October, at or near Fair Forest creek, in the
bosom of his family, by Bill Cunningham's notorious "Bloody Scout." He was in the
prime of life, and in his death his country lost a bold cavalier. He was the idol of his
family and friends. His descendants in Georgia, Mississippi, and Texas, are among the
worthiest of people. Baylis Earle became one of the early judges of Spartanburg District,
and was living in 1826, in his eighty-ninth year— MS. statement of Colonel John Carter,
Watauga, May 30th, 1775; MS. letter of Colonel Elijah Clarke to General Sumter, October
29th, 1780; Governor Perry's sketch of the Hampton Family, in the Magnolia Magazine.
June, 1843, with a continuation, which appeared in the South Carolina papers, in 1843,
written by Colonel Wade Hampton, Sr., father of the present Senator Hampton, of that
State.

84 KING'S MOUNTAIN

CHAPTER V.

1780— July— August.

McDowell sends for the Over- Mountain Men. — Clarke joins him, and
pushes on to Sumter s Camp. — Capture and Escape of Captain
Patrick Moore. — Moore's Plunderers. — Story of Jane Mcjunkin
and Bill Haynesworth. — Shelby and the Mountaineers arrive at
McDowell's Camp. — Capture of Thicketty Fort. — Expedition to
Brown's Creek and Fair Forest. — Fight at the Peach Orchard, near
Cedar Spring, and Wofford's Iron Works, and its incidents. —
Sayes Account of the Action. — British Report. — Contradictory
Statements concerning the Conflict.

When Colonel McDowell became convinced that Fer-
guson's movement to the north-western portion of South
Carolina, threatened the invasion of the North Province
also, he not only promptly raised what force he could from
the sparsely populated settlements, on the heads of Catawba,
Broad and Pacolet rivers, to take post in the enemy's front
and watch his operations ; but dispatched a messenger with
this alarming intelligence to Colonels John Sevier and Isaac
Shelby, on Watauga and Holston, those over-mountain
regions, then a portion of North Carolina, but now of East
Tennessee ; urging those noted border leaders to bring to
his aid all the riflemen they could, and as soon as possible.
Sevier, unable to leave his frontier exposed to the inroads
of the Cherokees, responded at once to the appeal, by send-
ing a part of his regiment under Major Charles Robertson ;
and Shelby, being more remote, and having been absent on
a surveying tour, was a few d^ys later, but joined McDow-
ell, at the head of two hundred mounted riflemen, about the
twenty-fifth of July, at his camp near the Cherokee Ford
of Broad river.

AND ITS HEROES. 85

Colonel Clarke did not long remain in Georgia. While
there, he and his associates were necessarily compelled to
secrete themselves in the woods, privately supplied with food
by their friends. This mode of life was irksome, and soon
became almost insupportable, without the least prospect of
accomplishing anything beneficial to the public. The regi-
ment was re-assembled, in augmented numbers, when, by
a general desire, Colonel Clarke led them along the eastern
slope of the mountains, directing their course towards
North Carolina, where they could unite with others, and
render their services useful to their country. Without mis-
hap or adventure, they were joined by Colonel Jones, as
they neared the region where they expected to find friends in
the field. Clarke was soon after joined by the brave Cap-
tain James McCall, with about twenty men, from the region
of Ninety Six, For want of confidence in Colonel Mc-
Dowell's activity, or from some other cause, Clarke pushed
on, and joined Sumter on or near the Catawba.

The story of the captivity of Captain Patrick Moore, a
noted Loyalist, now claims our attention. He had probably
escaped from the slaughter at Ramsour's Mill, on the
twentieth of June, when his brother, Colonel John Moore
safely retired to Camden. Anxious for the capture of Cap-
tain Moore, Major Joseph Dickson and Captain Wikmna^v^%
Johnston were sent out, in the fore part of July, with a
party to apprehend this noted Tory leader, and others of
his ilk, if they could be found. The veteran Captain
Samuel Martin, who had served in the old French and
Indian war. was one of the party. On Lawson's Fork, of
Pacolet river, near the Old Iron Works, since Bivingsville,
and now known as Glendale,* the parties met, and a
skirmish ensued, in which Captain Johnston and the Tory
leader had a personal rencontre. Moore was at length

*Glendale is located on the Southern side of Lawson's Fork, while the Old Iron Works
were on the same bank, fully half a mile above, where the old road once crossed the stream.
M These Works," says Mills, in 1826 " were burnt by the Tories, and never rebuilt."

86 KING 'S MO UN TAIN

overpowered and captured ; but in the desperate contest,
Johnston received several sword wounds on his head, and
on the thumb of his right hand. While bearing his prisoner
towards the Whig lines, a short distance away, he was rap-
idly approached by several British troopers. Quickly
attempting to fire his loaded musket at his pursuers, it unfor-
tunately missed, in consequence of the blood flowing from
his wounded thumb, and wetting his priming. This mis-
fortune on his part enabled his prisoner to escape ; and,
perceiving his own dangerous and defenceless condition, he
promptly availed himself of a friendly thicket at his side,
eluded his pursuers, and shortly after joined his command.*

At this time, or soon after, Moore had command of Fort
Anderson, or Thicketty Fort, as it was more generally
called, situated a quarter of a mile north of Goucher Creek,
and two and a half miles above the mouth of this small
water-cours' which empties into Thicketty Creek, a west-
ern tribute, y of Broad river, uniting with that stream a few
miles above its junction with Pacolet. It was a strong for-
tress, built a few years before for defence against the Chero-
kees, and was surrounded by a strong abatis, well fitted for
a vigorous defence. It became a great place of resort and
protection for Tory parties. They would sally forth from
Thicketty Fort, and plunder Whig families in every direc-
tion— so that women and children were often left without
clothing, shoes, bread, meat, or salt.

In the absence of Captain Nathaniel Jeffries, of that
region, one of these plundering parties visited his house,
appropriated such articles as they chose, built a fire on the
floor, abused Mrs. Jeffries as the meanest of all Rebels,
and drove off the horses and cattle. On another occasion,
the house of Samuel Mcjunkin, in Union District, a
warm patriot, but too old for active militarv service, was
visited by a party under Patrick Moore. Thev stayed all

* Hunter's Sketches of Western North Carolina, 242; MS. Pension Statement of Cap-
tain Samuel Martin.

AND ITS HEROES. 87

night ; and, when about to depart, stripped the family of
bed-clothes and wearing apparel. A noted Tory, Bill
Haynesworth, seized a bed-quilt, and placed it upon his
horse, when Mcjunkin's sturdy daughter, Jane, snatched it,
and a struggle ensued for the possession. The soldiers
amused themselves by exclaiming — " Well done, woman ! "
— "Well done, Bill ! " For once Moore's gallantry predomi-
nated over his love of plunder ; and he swore roundly if Jane
could take the quilt from Haynesworth, she should have it.
Presently in the fierce contest, Bill's feet came in contact
with some dirty slime in the yard, and slipped from under
him, and he lay prostrate and panting on the ground.
Jane, quick as thought, placed one foot upon his breast, and
wresting the quilt from his grasp, retired in triumph, while
poor Bill sneaked off defeated and crest-fallen, ^his brave
woman was the sister of Major Mcjunkin.

Nor was Miss Nancy Jackson, who lived in the Irish
Settlement, near Fair Forest creek, less demonstrative in
defence of her rights ; for she kicked a Tory down the
stairs as he was descending, loaded with plunder. In his
rage, he threatened to send the Hessian troops there the
next day, which obliged the heroic girl to take refuge with
an acquaintance several miles distant.*

The intrepid Sumter, hearing of Ferguson's inroads
beyond Broad river, directed Colonel Clarke and his
Georgians, together with such persons in his camp as
resided in that region, and desired to aid in its protection,
to repair to that quarter. Captain William Smith, of
Spartanburg, and his company, availed themselves of this
privilege. Arriving at the Cherokee Ford, they met Colo-
nel McDowell, when Colonel Shelby, together with Colonel
Clarke, Colonel Andrew Hampton and Major Charles
Robertson, of Sevier's regiment, were detached with six
hundred men, to surprise Thicketty Fort, some twenty

*MS. Saye papers; Saye\s Memoir of Mcjunkin ; Mrs. Ellet's Women of the Revolu-
tion, 1 ,162.

88 KING'S MO UNTAIN

miles distant. They took up the line of march at sunset,
and surrounded the post at day-break the next morning.
Colonel Shelby sent in Captain William Cocke, a volun-
teer— in after years, a United States Senator from Ten-
nessee— to make a peremptory demand for the surrender
of the garrison ; to which Moore replied that he would
defend the place to the last extremity. Shelby then
drew in his lines to within musket shot of the enemy all
around, with a full determination to make an assault.

Shelby's gallant " six hundred " made so formidable an
appearance, that on a second message, accompanied, we
may well suppose, with words of intimidation, Moore, per-
haps fearing another Ramsour's Mill onslaught, relented,
and proposed to surrender, on condition that the garrison be
paroled not to serve again during the war, unless exchanged,
which was acceded to — the more readily, as the Ameri-
cans did not care to be encumbered with prisoners. Thus
ninety-three Loyalists, with one British Sergeant-Major,
stationed there to discipline them, surrendered themselves
without firing a gun ; and among the trophies of victory
were two hundred and fifty* stand of arms, all loaded with
ball and buck-shot, and so arranged at the port-holes, with
their abundant supplies, that they could, had a Ferguson, a
Dunlap, or a De Peyster been at their head, have resisted
double the number of their assailants. \

Among the spoils taken at King's Mountain, was the
fragment of a letter, without date or signature — probably a

♦This is Shelby's statement; the MS. Cocke papers say "one hundred and fifty stand
of arms were taken."

t The leading facts relative to the capture of Thicketty Fort are taken from Haywood's
History of Tennessee, 64; Ramsey's Annals of Tennessee, 214; Memoir of Shelby, in
National Portrait Gallery, written by Colonel Charles S. Todd. Shelby's son in-law, and
which appeared, revised, in the Western Monthly Magazine, in 1836; Breazeale's Life as
it Is, 50— all which statements closely follow a MS. account written by Shelby himself; MS.
statement, preserved among the Saye papers, of John Jeffries, son of the plundered woman
mentioned in the narrative; MS papers of Hon. William Cocke furnish the name of the
fort ; MS. pension statements of William Smith, of Lincoln county, Tennessee, Alex. Mc-
Fadden, of Rutherford county. North Carolina, and John Clark, of Washington county,
Tennessee, corroborating, in a general way, the facts of the capture; and in a personal
interview with Silas McBee, of Pontotoc county, Mississippi, in 1842, he confirmed Shelby's
statement that ninety-four was the number of Moore's party captured. McBee lived on
Thicketty at the time of the capture of Moore and his men.

AND ITS HEROES. 89

copy of a dispatch from Ferguson to Lord Cornwallis — in
which this account is given of Thicketty Fort, Moore, and
his surrender of the place : "It had an upper line of loop-
holes, and was surrounded by a very strong abatis, with
only a small wicket to enter by. It had been put in thor-
ough repair at the request of the garrison, which consisted
of neighboring militia that had come to [the fort] ; and was
defended by eighty men against two or three hundred ban-
ditti without cannon, and each man was of opinion that it
was impossible [for the Rebels to take it.] The officer next
in command, and all the others, gave their opinion for de-
fending it, and agree in their account that Patrick Moore,
after proposing a surrender, acquiesced in their opinion, and
offered to go and signify as much to the Rebels, but re-
turned with some Rebel officers, whom he put in possession
of the gate and place, who were instantly followed by their
men, and the fort full of Rebels, to the surprise of the gar-
rison. He plead cowardice, I understand, f"

The capture of Thicketty Fort occurred on Sunday, the
thirtieth of July, as the connecting circumstances indicate,
and Lieutenant Allaire's Diary proves. Shelby and his
men, loaded with the spoils of victory, returned at once to
McDowell's camp near the Cherokee Ford.

McDowell's force at this time could not have exceeded a
thousand men, while Ferguson's must have reached fifteen to
eighteen hundred. It was, therefore, the policy of the Ameri-
cans to maintain their position near Cherokee Ford, guard
against surprise, and harass their adversaries, until they
should be able, with augmented numbers, to expel them
from the country. Shortly after the Thicketty expedition,
Colonel McDowell again detached Colonels Shelby, and
Clarke, with Colonel William Graham, with a combined
force of six hundred mounted men, to watch the movements
of Ferguson's troops, and whenever possible, to cut off his
foraging parties. They directed their course down Broad

f Ramsey's Tennessee, 215.

90 KING'S MOUNTAIN

river some twenty-five miles to Brown's creek, in now
Union county, where it was agreed they should assemble,
and which was a better situation than the Cherokee Ford,
to observe the operations of the British and Tories. But
when only a few of the parties fairly began to collect at
that point, a superior force of the enemy forced them to
retire, when they bore off some thirty or forty miles to the
upper portion of the Fair Forest settlement, within the
present limits of Spartanburg. On the way, they seem to
have gotten their force together. By watching their op-
portunity, they hoped to gain some decided advantage
over their opponents, whom they well knew they would
encounter in large numbers in that quarter. Hearing
of these bold Rebel troopers, Ferguson made several in-
effectual attempts to surprise them. But our frontier heroes
were too watchful to be caught napping. Clarke and
Shelby, with their men, were constantly on the alert — hav-
ing no fixed camp, so that they were difficult to find.

On the evening of August seventh, Clarke and Shelby,
with their troops, stopped for refreshment — and, if not dis-
turbed, for a night's repose — on Fair Forest creek, nearly
two miles west of Cedar Spring, at a point where the old
road crossed that stream, leading thence to Wofford's Iron
Works, and thence onward to the Cherokee Ford. Several
trusty scouts were sent out to make discoveries, who re-
turned before day the next morning, with the intelligence
that the enemy were within half a mile of them. About
the same moment, the report of a gun was heard, in the
direction of the British party, which was afterward ascer-
tained to have been fired by one of Dunlap's men — one who
felt some compunctions of conscience at the idea of surpris-
ing and massacring his countrymen, but who, protesting
that it was accidental, was not suspected of treachery.
The Americans, from prudential motives, retreated toward
the old Iron Works, on Lawson's Fork of Pacolet, leaving
Cedar Spring apparently a mile to the right ; and taking

AND ITS HEROES.

position not very far from the old orchard on the Thompson
place, which was some three or four miles from the ford over
Fair Forest, and something like a mile and a half from the
Iron Works, and about a mile from Cedar Spring. Here

PLAT OF REGION NEAR CEDAR SPRING.

A — Thompson's Place and Peach Orchard. B —Where one part of the battle is said
to have been fought. C — Old Iron Works. D— Glendale or Bivingsville. E— Peach Tree
Grave. F— Pacolet Hill. G— Cedar Spring.

suitable ground was chosen, and the men formed for battle,
when the spies came running in with the information that
the enemy's horse were almost in sight. Before their re-
tirement from their former temporary camp at Fair Forest,
Josiah Culbertson, one of the bravest of young men, who
had recently joined Shelby, had obtained permission to
return home, two or three miles distant on Fair Forest,
spend the night, and make such observations as he might,
of any enemy in that quarter. About day-light the next
morning, he rode fearlessly into the encampment he had
left the evening before, supposing it still to be occupied

92 KING 'S MO UNTAIN

by his American friends, not knowing that they had de-
camped, and Dunlap had just taken possession of it. But
Culbertson was equal to the emergency, for, seeing every-
thing so different from what it was the previous evening, he
was quick to discover his mistake ; and with extraordinary
coolness and presence of mind, he rode very leisurely out
of the encampment, with his trusty rifle resting on the pom-
mel of his saddle before him. As he passed along, he ob-
served the dragoons getting their horses in readiness, and
making other preparations indicating an immediate renewal
of their line of march. No particular notice was taken of
him in the British camp, as it was supposed that he was one
of their own men, who had got ready for the onward move-
ment before his fellows. But when out of sight, he dashed
off with good speed in the direction he inferred that Clarke
and Shelby had gone, and soon overtook his friends, and
found they had chosen their ground, and were prepared for
the onslaught.

Major Dunlap was an officer of much energy and
promptitude, and soon made his appearance, with a strong
force, part Colonial dragoons and part mounted militia,
and commenced the conflict. The Whigs were as eager
for the fray as the over-confident Britons. The action
lasted half an hour, and was severely contested. Dun-
lap's mounted volunteer riflemen, it is said, who were in
front, recoiled, giving back at the very first fire of their op-
ponents, and their commander found it difficult to rally
them. Having at length succeeded, he placed himself at
the head of his dragoons, and led them on to renew the
contest, followed by the mounted riflemen, who were, how-
ever, averse to coming into very close quarters. Dunlap's
dragoons, with their broad-swords, played a prominent part
in the action ; and from the disproportion of Tories killed
over the dragoons, according to the British account, which
is doubtful, it would appear that Clarke and Shelby's rifle-
men must have been busy in picking them off. During the^

AND ITS HEROES. 93

mentioned the circumstance of his ceasing, in the midst of
the battle, to witness, with astonishment and admiration, the
remarkable and unequal struggle Clarke was maintaining
with his foes. In the fierce hand-to-hand contest, he re-
ceived two sabre wounds, one on the back of his neck, and
the other on his head — his stock-buckle saving his life ; and
he was even, for a few minutes, a prisoner, in charge of two
stout Britons ; but, taking advantage of his strength and
activity, he knocked one of them down, when the other
quickly fled out of the reach of this famous back-woods
Titan. Clarke was every inch a hero, and was indebted
to his own good pluck and prowess for his escape from his
enemies, with only slight wounds, and the loss of his hat, in
the melee *

Culbertson, with his characteristic daring, had a personal
adventure worthy of notice. Meeting a dragoon, some
distance from support, who imperiously demanded his sur-
render, the intrepid American replied by whipping his rifle
to his shoulder and felling the haughty Briton from his
horse. When the dead were buried the next day, this
dragoon was thrown into a hole near where he lay, and
covered with earth. He happened to have at the time some
peaches in his pocket, from which a peach tree grew, and
for many years after, bore successive crops of fruit. The
grave is yet pointed out, but the peach tree has long since
disappeared. A worthy person in that region recently'died
nearly a hundred years of age, who used to relate that he
had, in early life, eaten fruit from that tree.f The graves of
some twenty or thirty others, who fell in this engagement,
says Governor Perry, were yet to be seen as late as 1842.

*McCall mentions that Colonel Clarke and his son were wounded both at Wofford's
Iron Works and at Musgrove's. giving the particulars as occurring at the latter; while
Shelby notices their having been wounded only at the former, instancing his heroic ren-
contre there ; and an eye-witness, William Smith, of Tennessee, relates that Clarke received
a sword wound in the neck, and lost his hat near Wofford's, returning to McDowell's camp
bare-headed.

V MS. letters of N. F. Walker, Esq., of Cedar Spring, June 15th and July 7th, 1880.

94 KING 'S MO UNTAIN

It is questionable, however, if so many, on both sides, were
killed in the action.*

By some adroit management, a number of British pris-
oners were captured, and at length Dunlap was beaten
back with considerable loss. Mills states that he was pur-
sued a mile, but could not be overtaken. About two miles
below the battle-ground, Dunlap's fugitives were met by
Ferguson with his whole force, who together advanced
to the Iron Works, from which, as they came in sight,
a few hours after the action, Clarke and Shelby were
compelled to make a hasty retreat, leaving one or two of
their wounded behind them — not having time or conveni-
ences to convey them away ; but they were treated by
Ferguson with humanity, and left there when he retired.
As Clarke and Shelby expected, Ferguson now pursued
them, with the hope of regaining the prisoners. The
American leaders retired slowly, forming frequently on the
most advantageous ground to give battle, and so retarding
the pursuit, that the prisoners were finally placed beyond
recapture.

Three miles north-east of the old Iron Works, they
came to Pacolet ; just beyond which, skirting its north-
east border, rises a steep, rocky hill, fifty to sixty feet high,
so steep where the road passed up at that day, that the
men, in some cases, had to help their horses up its difficult
ascent. Along the crest of this hill or ridge, Shelby and
Clarke displayed their little force ; and when Ferguson and
his men came in view, evincing a disinclination to pursue
any farther, the patriots, from their vantage-ground, ban-
tered and ridiculed them to their hearts' content. But
Ferguson, having maintained the chase four or five miles,

* Major A. J. Wells, of Montevallo. Alabama, a native of Spartanburg, narrates a
singular incident which must relate to this battle. After the war, the widow of a Tory
came to the neglected burial place, and had the fallen dead disinterred, from which she
readily selected the remains of her husband, for he was six and a half feet high, and piously
bore them to her distant home for a more Christian interment.

AND ITS HEROES. 95

now abandoned it, with nothing to boast of, save his
superior numbers.*

Mr. Saye's account of this affair, as gathered from the
traditions of the neighborhood, and published thirty-three
years ago, may very properly supplement the narrative just
related — with the passing remark, that what he describes as
the battle at the peach-orchard, was probably but one of
the episodes of that day's heroic exploits, and yet it may
have been the principal one : Shelby's force occupied a
position near the present site of Bivingsville. Various
attempts were made to fall upon the Americans by surprise ;
but these schemes were baffled. About four miles from
Spartanburg Court House, on the main road to Unionville,
is an ancient plantation known as 'Thompson's Old Place.'
It is an elevated tract of country, lying between the tribu-
taries of Fair Forest Creek on one side, and those of Law-
son's Fork of Pacolet on the other — and about midway
between Cedar Spring and the Iron Works.

A road leading from North Carolina to Georgia, by the
way of the Cherokee Ford of Broad river, passed through
this place, and thence by or near the Cedar Spring. A
person passing from the direction of Unionville towards
Spartanburg Court House, crosses this ancient highway,
after passing which, by looking to the right, the eye rests
upon a parcel of land extending down a hollow, which was
cleared and planted in fruit trees prior to the Revolutionary
war. Beyond this hollow, just where the road enters a
body of woodland, there are yet some traces of a human
habitation. In this orchard, two patrol parties met from the
adverse armies. The party from DunJap's camp were in
the orchard gathering peaches ; the Liberty men fired on
them, and drove them from the place. In turn, the victors
entered the orchard, but the report of their guns brought out

* MS notes of conversations with the late Colonel George Wilson, of Nashville, Ten-
nessee, who derived the facts from his father-in-law, Alexander Greer, one of Major
Robertson's men on the expedition. MS. letters of Hon. Simpson Bobo and A. H.
Twichell, showing the locality of the Pacolet hill.

96 KING'S MOUNTAIN

a strong detachment from the Cedar Spring, as well as a
reinforcement from Shelby. The commander of the patrol,
when he saw the enemy approaching, drew up his men
under cover of the fence along the ridge, just where the old
field and woodland now meet, and where traces of an old
residence are now barely visible. Here he awaited their
approach.

The onset was furious, but vigorously met. The conflict
was maintained against fearful odds till the arrival of
reinforcements from Shelby's camp. The scale now
turned, and the assailants now fell back. The whole force
of Shelby and Clarke were soon in battle array, confronted
by the whole British advance, numbering six or seven hun-
dred men. The struggle was renewed with redoubled fury.
The Liberty men drove back their foes, when the whole
British army came up. A retreat was now a matter of
necessity. Such is the local tradition ; but local tradition,
especially in this case, is extremely liable to error and con-
fusion, from the fact that but few of the people of that quar-
ter were present in the action — for the actors were mostly
from other States, and probably strangers to the neighbor-
hood. Thus far, Mr. S aye's narrative.

Only two British accounts of the action at Cedar Spring
have come to our knowledge — one bears date Savannah,
Georgia, August twenty-fourth, 1780. It appeared in Riv-
mgton's New 2'ork Royal Gazette, of September fourteenth,
copied into the London Chronicle, of November sixteenth,
ensuing. It has every appearance of being a one-sided and
diminuitve statement of the affair : " We learn from Augusta,
that a Captain of the Queen's Rangers, with twenty-four
dragoons, and about thirty militia, lately charged about
three hundred Rebels above Ninety Six. Whilst they were
engaged, Colonel Ferguson happily got up with some men
to the assistance of our small party, which obliged the
enemy to take to their heels. Fifty of the Rebels were
killed and wounded; a Major Smith was among the slain,

Engase&'byJ.C.Biittre.

ffifl

SAMUEIL HAMMOND

OF GEORGIA
A.D. 1787

AND ITS HEROES. 97

and a Lieutenant-Colonel Clarke was wounded, and died
next day. Our loss is said to be one dragoon and seven
militia killed."

Allaire supplies the other account : " Got to the ground
the Rebels were encamped on, at four o'clock on Tuesday
morning, August eighth. They had intelligence of our
move, and were likewise alarmed by the firing of a gun in
our ranks ; they sneaked from their ground about half an
hour before we arrived. Learning that the Rebel wagons
were three miles in front of us at Cedar Springs, Captain
Dunlap, with fourteen mounted men, and a hundred and
thirty militia, were dispatched to take the wagons. He met
three Rebels coming to reconnoitre our camp ; he pursued,
took two of them, the other escaped, giving the Rebels the
alarm. In pursuit of this man, Dunlap and his party
rushed into the centre of the Rebel camp, where they lay
in ambush, before he was aware of their presence. A
skirmish ensued, in which Dunlap got slightly wounded,
and had between twenty and thirty killed and wounded —
Ensign McFarland and one private taken prisoners. The
Rebel loss is uncertain — a Major Smith, Captain Potts, and
two privates were left dead on the field. Colonel Clarke,
Johnson [Robertson,] and twenty privates were seen
wounded. We pursued them five miles, to the Iron Works ;
but were not able to overtake them, they being all mounted.' '

Among the slain was Major Burwell Smith, who had
contributed greatly to the settlement of the frontier portion
of Georgia, where he had been an active and successful
partisan in Indian warfare, and his fall was deeply lamented
by Colonel Clarke and his associates. Captain John Potts*
and Thomas Scott were also among the slain. Besides
Colonel Clarke's slight wounds with a sabre, Major Charles
Robertson, a volunteer from the Watauga troops, and Cap-

*This is stated on the anthority of Colonel Graham, who participated in the action,
corroborated by Lieutenant Allaire's Diary. A. H. Twichell. Esq., of Glendale, states as
the tradition of an old resident of that region, that an American officer named Potter was
shot out of a peach tree at Thompson's place. This doubtless refers to Captain Potts.

98 KING'S MOUNTAIN

tain John Clarke, the youthful son of the Colonel, yet in his
teens, and several others, were also wounded in the same
manner. This close hand-to-hand sabre fighting, which
McCall describes, contradicts his previous description of the
action as if it were simply a " distant firing " upon each
other. It shows, too, that the back-woods riflemen did not
take to their heels on the approach of the dragoons with
their glittering broad-swords.

It is not easy to determine the actual strength of the
parties engaged in this spirited contest, nor their respective
losses. McCall does not specify how many on either side
took part in the conflict — only that the Americans were out-
numbered ; erroneously naming Innes as the British com-
mander ; and states that the enemy pursued Colonel Clarke
to Woftbrd's Iron Works, where he had chosen a strong
position from which the British endeavored to draw
him, and that a distant firing continued during the after-
noon, until near night ; that the Americans lost four killed
and five or six wounded, while the enemy lost five killed
and eleven wounded. Mills mentions in one place in his
work, that Clarke's force was one hundred and sixty-eight,
in another, one hundred and ninety-eight, evidently ignorant
of the presence of Colonels Shelby and Graham, with their
followers ; that Ferguson and Dunlap combined, numbered
between four and six hundred, of which Dunlap's advance
consisted of sixty dragoons and one hundred and fifty
mounted volunteer riflemen ; that the Americans had four
killed and twenty-three wounded, all by the broad-sword ;
while Dunlap lost twenty -eight of his dragoons, and six or
seven of his Tory volunteers killed, and several wounded.
Shelby, in Haywood, states Ferguson's full force at about
two thousand strong — which Todd augments to twenty-five
hundred — of which Dunlap's advance was reputed at six or
seven hundred ; that the strength of the Americans was six
hundred ; and acknowledges that ten or twelve of the
latter were killed and wounded, but does not state the loss

AND ITS HEROES. 99

of their assailants. Colonel Graham gives no numbers, but
asserts that many of the enemy were killed. These several
statements differ very much from the British reports, and
from each other.

In Shelby's account as originally published in Hay-
wood's Tennessee, and then in Ramsey's, the number of
prisoners taken is stated at " twenty, with two British offi-
cers," which in Todd's memoir of Shelby, are increased to
" fifty, mostly British, including two officers ; " and Colonel
Graham in his pension statement, places the number at
only half a dozen, and Allaire at only two.

As to the particular time in the day in which the contest
took place, there is also quite a variety of statements.
Mills places it before day, when so dark that it was hard to
distinguish friend from foe — his informant doubtless refer-
ring, not to Dunlap's fight, but to the prior attack upon
Colonel Thomas, at Cedar Spring, which he so signally
repelled.

McCall states that it occurred in the afternoon ; Shelby
is silent on this point ; while Governor Perry's traditions
convey the idea that it was in the morning or fore part of
the day, and in this he is corroborated by Captain William
Smith,* as well as by the MS. Diary of Lieutenant
Allaire.

Colonel Graham only refers to the time of day inferen-

* Captain Smith was born in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, September 20th, 1751, and
early settled in what is now Spartanburg County, South Carolina. He served in Captain
Joseph Wofford's company on the Snow campaign, in 1775; and the next year as Lieuten-
ant on Williamson's expedition against the Cherokees. In 1777, he was made a Captain in
the militia and was stationed in Wood's Fort on Tyger. In December, 1778, he was
ordered to Georgia, serving under General Lincoln; and shared in the battle of Stono, in
June, 1779; in the contests, as we have seen, near Wofford's Iron Works, Hanging Rock,
and Musgrove's Mill, in August, 1780 ; and subsequently at the battle of Blackstocks, in the
siege of Fort Granby, at Guilford Court House, Quinby Bridge, the affair at the Juniper,
and the capture of some British vessels at Watboo Landing under Colonel Wade Hampton.
In the latter part of the war he ranked as Major. After the war, he was chosen County
Judge, member of Congress from 1797 to 1799, and State Senator for twenty years. Few
men served the public longer or more faithfully in military and civil life than Judge Smith.
He died June 22d, 1837, in the eighty-sixth year of his age. His widow survived till
October 2d, 1842.

100 KING'S MOUNTAIN

tially, by stating that it was "several hours" after the
action before Ferguson, with his combined force, came in
sight, when Shelby and his men precipitately retired.

Precisely where the fight took place has also been
a subject of dispute — the result, no doubt, of the general
vagueness of the descriptions. Mills says it occurred at
the Green Springs, meaning Cedar Spring, near Wofford's
old Iron Works ; Shelby says at Cedar Spring, as does
Samuel Espy, of North Carolina, who was also in the
action. Had these two men, and Mills' informant, stated the
locality with more exactitude, they might, and probably
would, have said, that they named the Cedar Spring as a
permanent landmark, near which the contest transpired,
and so located it — the same as Gates' defeat is frequently
referred to as having occurred at Camden, when it really
took place some seven miles distant. Colonel Graham, one
of the prominent officers in that affair, refers to it as "at
Wofford's Iron Works ;" Alexander McFadden, a survivor
of the contest, speaks of it as "the battle of Wofford's Iron
Works ;" while McCall, the historian, says the enemy pur-
sued the Americans "to Wofford's Iron Works, where they
chose their ground, and awaited the attack."

William Smith, of Tennessee, another survivor of the
contest says, "we had a battle near Wofford's Iron Works ; "
and Captain William Smith, of Spartanburg, who was an
intelligent officer in the fight, and resided within a few miles
of the battle-ground the most of his long life, states that the
contest took place "near the old Iron Works." His son,
Hon. John Winsmith, in a historical address he made at
Cedar Spring, in 1855, and verbally repeated to the writer
in 1 87 1, describes the hill, then covered with timber, nearly
half a mile north-east of Cedar Spring, as the locality of
the battle. It is possible that the first half-hour's contest,
where Clarke had his desperate personal rencontre with
unequal odds, may have taken place near this hill, as Dr.
Winsmith believes. " On this locality," says N. F. Walker,

AND ITS HEROES. 101

" within my recollection, a musket-barrel was found, and
near where we think the dead were buried."*

But as Cedar Spring seems not to have been on the
old route pursued by the contending parties, the weight
of evidence, and all the circumstances, go to show that
the chief fighting was "near the old Iron Works,'' as
Captain William Smith positively asserts. Mr. Saye's
traditions of the neighborhood, collected there prior to
1848, fix the locality of, at least, one portion of the con-
test, at the old orchard on the Thompson place, between the
Cedar Spring and the old Iron Works, about one mile from
the former, and nearly two from the latter. The fact that
the graves of the Tory dead, including the one from which
the peach tree sprung, are near the old Thompson orchard,
and between it and Cedar Spring, sufficiently attest the
locality where, at least, the principal part of this notable
passage at arms occurred.

More space has been devoted to these two somewhat
blended affairs — the one at the Cedar Spring, where Colo-
nel Thomas repulsed the enemy, and the other near Thomp-
son's peach-orchard — than, perhaps, their real importance
in history would seem to warrant. At the period of their
occurrence, they exerted a marked influence on the people
of the upper region of Carolina, as demonstrating what
brave and determined men could accomplish in defense of
their own and their country's rights ; and how successfully
they could meet an insolent foe, alike in ambush, or on the
battle-field. As no contemporary records of these events
have come down to us, save the vague and unsatisfactory
British ones which we have given entire, and the tradition-
ary accounts have become more or less intermixed and con-
fused, it seemed proper to sift them as thoroughly as possi-
ble, and present the simple narrative of the occurrences as
the facts seem to indicate.

*It may well have been at this hill where the previous Tory attack was made on
Colonel Thomas. It was a fit place, then covered with timber, to have formed his success-
ful ambuscade.

102 KING 'S MO UN TAIN

The difficulty has hitherto been, on the part of histori-
cal writers, in attempts to blend the two affairs, when the
time, details, and different commanding officers, all go very
clearly to prove that they were entirely distinct, and had
no connection whatever with each other. It is due to the
Rev. Mr. Saye, to state that he was the first person who
discovered the incongruity of applying the details to a sin-
gle action ; but he was unable to fix their respective dates,
or determine which took the precedence of the other in
point of time. McCall's History of Georgia has furnished
the key to unlock the difficulty with reference to the time
of the attack on Thomas' force at Cedar Spring, and all the
circumstances go to confirm it ; while the hitherto unpub-
lished Diary of Lieutenant Allaire determines the date of
the affair near Wofford's Iron Works.*

*The authorities consulted in the preparation of this notice of the action near Cedar
Spring and Wofford's Iron Works, are : McCall's Georgia, ii, 314; Haywood's Tennessee,
64-65; Mills' Statistics of South Carolina, 256,738-39; Todd's Memoir of Shelby ; Governor
Perry's account in the Magnolia Magazine, August, 1842 ; New York Royal Gazette, Sep-
tember 14th, 1780; London Chronicle, November 16th, 1780; Saye's Memoir of Mcjunkin,
and the Saye MSS.; MSS. of Dr. John H. Logan ; Allaire's MS. Diary; Winsmith's Ad-
dress, 1855 ; together with the MS. pension statements of Colonel William Graham, Cap-
tain William Smith, of Spartanburg, Samuel Espy, Alexander McFadden, and William
Smith, of Tennessee, all participants in the action ; also MS. notes of conversations with
Colonel George Wilson, of Tennessee. I am indebted to N. F. Walker, Esq., of Cedar
Spring, and A. H. Twichell, Esq., of Glendale, for traditions, and descriptions of the
localities connected with the battle and the retreat.

Ramsay, Moultrie, Lee's Memoirs, Johnson's Greene, and other early writers, do not
even notice this action ; nor such modern historians as Bancroft, Hildreth, and Stevens.
Lossing, Wheeler, Simms, Ramsey's Tennessee, and O'Neall's Newberry briefly refer to it ;
while Mrs. Ellet, in her Women of the Revolution, and her Domestic History of the Revo-
lution, simply copies from Mills, misapplying the story of Mrs. Dillard's adventure.

I have not cited what passes for Colonel Hammond's account of the battle, in a news-
paper series, and also in Johnson's Traditions of the Revolution, simply because he could
not have written it; but it was evidently manufactured from Mills' Statistics, with some
imaginary interlardings, to give it a new appearance. Dawson, in his Battles of the United
States} has given a chapter on this affair, based on the pretended Hammond narrative.

AND ITS HEROES. 103

CHAPTER VI.

1780— August 18.

Musgroves Mill Expedition and Battle. — Rencontre of the Patrol Par-
ties.— British Alarm. — Information of the Enemy's Reinforcement.
— Whigs throw up Breast-works. — Captain Inman's Stratagem. —
Enemy Drawn into the Net prepared for them. — Desperate Fight-
ing.— Innes and other British Leaders Wounded. — Tory Colonel
Clary s Escape. — Captain Inman Killed. — The Retreat and the
Rout. — Incidents at the Ford. — Sam Moore s Adventure. — The Brit-
ish and Tory Reserve. — A British Patrol Returns too late to share
in the Battle. — Burial of the slain. — Length and severity of the Action.
— Respective Losses. — News of Gates' Defeat — its Influence. — Whigs'
Retreat. — Anecdote of Paul Hinson. — The Prisoners. — Williams" Re-
ward.— Cornwallis Confession. — Comparison of A uthorities.

Returning from their Fair Forest expedition, Clarke
and Shelby's men needed a little repose. McDowell soon
after removed his camp from the Cherokee Ford, taking
post, some ten miles below, on the eastern bank of
Broad River, at Smith's Ford. By his faithful scouts,
Colonel McDowell was kept well informed of Ferguson's
movements and out-posts. Learning that a body of some
two hundred Loyalists were stationed at Musgrove's Mill,
some forty miles distant on the Enoree, to guard the rocky
ford at that place, it was regarded as a vulnerable point —
all the more so, since Ferguson, with his main force, was
stationed considerably in advance, between that place and
the American encampment, thus tending to lull into security
those in their rear

The term of enlistment of Colonel Shelby's regiment
was about to expire, and that enterprising officer was
desirous of engaging in another active service before retir-
ing to his home on the Holston. Colonels Shelby and

104 KING 'S MO UN TAIN

Clarke were appointed to lead a party of mounted men to
surprise or attack the Loyalists at Musgrove's. With Clarke
was Captain James McCall and Captain Samuel Hammond.
Colonel James Williams, whose home was in that region,
but who had been driven from it, had, on the sixteenth of
August, joined McDowell with a few followers — prominent
among whom were Colonel Thomas Brandon, Colonel James
Steen, and Major Mcjunkin ; and these united with Shelby
and Clarke, together with several other experienced officers,
who volunteered to share in the enterprise, among whom
were Major Joseph McDowell, the brother of the Colonel,
Captain David Vance, and Captain Valentine Sevier, and
with the latter, a number of Watauga and Nolachucky rifle-
men.

It was largely rumored, that a military chest was either
at Musgrove's, or was being conveyed from Ninety Six to
Ferguson's camp ; and the Whigs hoped to intercept it on
the way. Whatever influence this prospect of obtaining
British treasure may have exerted on the volunteers, as we
hear no more of the chest, we may conclude that it was a
camp yarn, gotten up for the occasion ; or, if a reality, it
certainly eluded the grasp of the adventurers.

Secrecy and dispatch were necessary to success. A
night march was therefore chosen, when less likely to be
observed, and cooler for the horses to travel. Shelby and
his two hundred adventurous followers left camp an hour
before sun-down, on the seventeenth of August. Williams,
Brandon, and their men, were well acquainted with the
country, and knew the best route to effect their purpose.
They traveled through the woods until dark, when they fell
into a road, and proceeded on all night, much of the way in
a canter, and without making a single stop — crossing
Gilky's and Thicketty creeks, Pacolet, Fair Forest, and
Tyger, with other lesser streams, and passing within three
or four miles of Ferguson's camp on their left, which was,
at this time, at Fair Forest Shoal, in Brandon's settlement,

AND ITS HEROES. 105

some twenty-six miles from Smith's Ford ; and from Fair
Forest Shoal, it was still twelve or fourteen miles to Mus-
grove's. It was a hard night's ride.

Arriving, near the dawn of day, within a mile nearly
north of Musgrove's Ford, the Whig party halted at an old
Indian field, and sent out a party of five or six scouts to
reconnoitre the situation. They crossed the mouth of Cedar
Shoal Creek, close to the Spartanburg line, a short distance
below Musgrove's Mill, and then passed up a by-road to
Head's Ford, a mile above Musgrove's, where they forded
the Enoree, and stealthily approached sufficiently near the
Tory camp to make observations. Returning the same
route, when on the top of the river ridge, west of Cedar
Shoal creek, they encountered a small Tory patrol, which
had passed over at Musgrove's Ford, during their absence
above, and thus gained their rear. A sharp firing ensued,
when one of the enemy was killed, two wounded, and two
fled precipitately to the Tory camp. Two of the Ameri-
cans were slightly wounded, who, with their fellows, now
promptly returned to Shelby and Clarke's halting place,
with the intelligence they had gained, and the particulars
of their skirmish.

This firing, and the speedy arrival of the two patrol-
men, put the Tory camp in wild commotion. Colonel
Innes, Major Fraser, and other officers who had their head-
quarters at Edward Musgrove's residence, held a hurried
council. Innes was for marching over the river at once,
and catching the Rebels before they had time to retreat ;
while others contended for delay, at least till after break-
fast, by which time, it was hoped, a party of one hundred
mounted men, who had gone on a patrol, eight miles below,
near Jones' Ford, would return, and thus add very materi-
ally to their strength. But Innes' counsels prevailed, lest
they should miss so fine an opportunity "to bag" a scurvy
lot of ragamuffins, as they regarded the adventurous Ameri-
cans. So leaving one hundred men in camp as a reserve,

106 KING 'S MO UNTAIN

preparations were made for an immediate advance to meet
the unexpected invaders.

Meanwhile, Shelby and Clarke had taken position on a
timbered ridge, some little distance east of Cedar Shoal
creek, and within about half a mile of Musgrove's Ford and
Mill. At this juncture, a countryman, who lived near by,
came up, giving information that the British had been rein-
forced the preceding evening, by the arrival of Colonel
Alexander Innes, from Ninety Six, with two hundred men
of the Provincial regiments, and one hundred Tories, des-
tined to join Colonel Ferguson. A British writer represents,
that Innes' detachment consisted of a light infantiy com-
pany of the New Jersey Volunteers, under Captain Peter
Campbell ; a company of De Lancey's Provincial Battalion,
under Captain James Kerr, together with about one hundred
mounted men of his own regiment, the South Carolina
Royalists. This could not have included the regular garri-
son previously stationed there, apparently under the com-
mand of Major Fraser. Captain Abraham De Peyster, of
the King's American regiment, as well as the noted Loyalist
partisan, Captain David Fanning, were also there ; while
Colonel Daniel Clary was encamped there, at the head of
the Tories of that region.

So minute were the circumstances of the information
communicated by the countryman, that no doubt was enter-
tained of its truth ; and to march on and attack the enemy
appeared rash, and to attempt a successful retreat, wearied
and broken down as the horses were, seemed almost im-
possible. Colonel Shelby and his associates instantly con-
cluded, that they had no alternative — fight they must.
Securing their horses in their rear, they resolved to impro-
vise a breast-work of logs and brush, and make the best
defense possible. Their lines were formed across the road,
at least three hundred yards in length, along the ridge, in
a semi-circle, and both protected and concealed by a wood.
Old logs, fallen trees and brush were hurried into place, so

AND ITS HEROES. 107

that in thirty minutes they had a very respectable protection,
breast-high. Shelby occupied the right — Clarke the left;
and Williams in the center, though with no special com-
mand, for the whole force formed one extended line. A
party of some twenty horsemen were placed on each flank,
shielded, as much as possible, from the enemy's observa-
tion— Josiah Culbertson having the command of that on
Shelby's right ; and Colonel Clarke had a reserve of forty
men within calling distance.

Captain Shadrach Inman, who had figured prominently
in battling the British and Tories in Georgia, was sent for-
ward, with about twenty-five mounted men, with orders to
fire upon, and provoke the enemy to cross the ford, and
skirmish with them, at his discretion ; and retire, drawing
the British into the net which Shelby and Clarke had so
adroitly prepared for them. This stratagem, which was the
suggestion of the Captain himself, worked admirably, for
the British infantry seemed elated with their success in
driving Inman at the point of the bayonet ; but the Whig
Captain kept up a show of fighting and retreating. While
the enemy were yet two hundred yards distant from the
American breast-works, they hastily formed into line of
battle ; and as they advanced fifty yards nearer, they opened
a heavy fire, pretty generally over-shooting their antago-
nists. When trees were convenient, the frontiermen made
use of them, while others were shielded behind their rudely
constructed barrier, and, to some extent, availed themselves
also of a fence extending along the road. The Americans
had been cautioned to reserve their fire * * till they could see
the whites of the Tories' eyes ;" or, as another has it, "till
they could distinguish the buttons on their clothes" — nor
even then to discharge their rifles, until orders were given,
when each man was "to take his object sure." These
orders were strictly obeyed.

The British center, on whom Inman made his feigned
attacks, seeing him retire in apparent confusion, pressed

108 KING 'S MO UNTAIN

forward, under beat of drum and bugle charge, in pursuit,
but in considerable disorder, shouting: " Huzza for King
George ! '' On approaching within seventy yards of the
American lines, they were unexpectedly met with a deadly
fire, from which they at first recoiled. But their superi-
ority in numbers enabled them to continue their attack,
notwithstanding the advantage which the breast-work
gave the Americans. A strong force, composed of the
Provincials, led on by Innes and Fraser, forming the
enemy's left wing, drove, at the point of the bayonet,
the right wing under Shelby from their breast-work.
It was a desperate struggle — Shelby's men contending
against large odds, and the right flank of his right wing
gradually giving away, whilst his left flank maintained its
connection with the centre at the breast-work. The left
wing, opposed by the Tories, retained its position ; and, see-
ing Shelby in need of succor, Clarke sent his small reserve
to his aid, which proved a most timely relief. At this criti-
cal moment, as Innes was forcing Shelby's right flank, the
British leader was badly disabled, fell from his charger, and
was carried back — shot, it was reported, by one of the
Watauga volunteers, William Smith, who exultingly ex-
claimed, "I've killed their commander," when Shelby
rallied his men, who raised a regular frontier Indian yell,
and rushed furiously upon the enemy, who were gradually
forced back before the exasperated riflemen. Culbertson's
flanking party acted a conspicuous part on this occasion.

It was unfortunate for the enemy, that, in this desperate
contest, one Captain was killed, and five out of seven of the
surviving officers of their Provincial corps were wounded.
Besides Innes, shot down by Smith, another Watauga rifle-
man, Robert Beene, wounded Major Fraser, wTho was seen
to reel from his horse. Captain Campbell, together with
Lieutenants Camp and William Chew, were also among
the wounded.*

* Colonel Innes was a Scotchman. He was probably a protege of his countryman, Alex-
ander Cameron, the British Indian Agent among the Cherokees ; and was, it would appear.

AND ITS HEROES. 109

These heavy losses had a very disheartening effect upon
the British troops. And the Tories, failing to make any
impression on Clarke's line, and having already lost several
of their officers, and many of their men, began to show signs
of wavering, when Captain Hawsey, a noted leader among
them, who was striving to re-animate the Loyalists, and
retrieve the fortunes of the day, was shot down. In the
midst of the confusion that followed, Clarke and his brave
men, following Shelby's example, pushed forth from their
barrier, yelling, shooting and slashing on every hand. It
was in the mclde, when the British defeat was too apparent,
that the Tory Colonel Clary had the opposite bits of his
horse's bridle seized at the same moment by two stalwart
Whigs. He had, however, the ingenuity and presence of
mind to extricate himself from his perilous situation by
exclaiming — " D — n you, don't you know your own
officers ! " He was instantly released, and fled at full speed.*
The British and Tories were now in full retreat, closely
followed by the intrepid mountaineers. It was in this excit-
ing pursuit that the courageous Captain Inman was killed,
while pressing the enemy, and fighting them hand-to-
hand. He received seven shots from the Tories, one,
a musket ball, piercing his forehead. He fell near the base
of a Spanish oak that stood where the modern road leaves
the old mill road, and where his grave was still pointed

an assistant commissary at the Long Island of Holston, at one time ; and in the fall of
1777, returned to the Cherokee nation, taking up his quarters with Cameron. He was
commissioned Colonel of the South Carolina Royalists, January 20, .1780; in 1782, he was
Inspector General of the Loyalist forces. Colonel Hanger, in his Reply to Mackenzie's
Strictures states that Innes was living retired in 1789, probably on half-pay.

Of Major Fraser, who was wounded in this engagement, we have no further knowl-
edge. Captain Campbell was of Trenton, New Jersey, settled in New Brunswick, after
peace was declared, on half-pay, dying in Maugersville in that Colony in 1822, and was
buried at Frederickton. Lieutenant Chew retired at the close of the war, on half-pay, to
New Brunswick, dying at Frederickton, in 1812, aged sixty-four. Of Lieutenant Camp's
career, before or after the affair at Musgrove's Mill, we have no information.

♦Colonel Clarey was a prominent citizen of Ninety Six District; and surviving the
war, remained in the country. Notwithstanding his great error in siding with the Tories,
he was greatly beloved, and, in after life, performed all the duties of a good citizen, until
peacefully gathered to his fathers. He had, a few years since, a grandson, Colonel Clary,
living in Edgefield County, and other decendants.

110

KING'S MOUNTAIN

out but a few years since. Great credit is justly due to
Captain Inman for the successful manner in which he
brought on the action, and the aid he rendered in con-
ducting it to a triumphant issue.

The yells and screeches
of the retreating British and
Tories as they ran through
the woods, and over the hills
to the river — loudly inter-
mingled with the shouts of
their pursuers, together with
the groans of the dying and
wounded, were terrific and
heart-rending in the ex-
treme. The smoke, as well
as the din and confusion,

BATTLE RIDGE

ENOREE RIVER

A. Graves. B. Where Captain Inman was „„„ U'^U r,Knv^ tVi^ ^Yririno-
ction of the old and new roads. rose nign aoove tne exciting

Plat of Region near Musgrove's Mill
. Graves,
killed, at the jun

scene. The Tories ceased to make any show of defense
when half way from the breast-works to the ford. The
retreat then became a perfect rout ; and now, with reck-
less speed, they hastened to the river, through which they
rushed with the wildest fury, hotly pursued by the victorious
Americans with sword and rifle, killing, wounding or cap-
turing all who came in their way.

Many of the British and Tories were shot down as they
were hastening, pell-mell, across the Enoree at the rocky
ford. After they were fairly over, one, not yet too weary
to evince his bravado, and attract attention for the moment,
turned up his buttock in derision at the Americans ; when
one of the Whig officers, probably Brandon or Steen, said
to Golding Tinsley : * "Can't you turn that insolent brag-

*This old soldier, who did much good service in the up-country of South Carolina
during the Revolution, was born in Culpeper County, Virginia, in or about 1756, as stated in
his pension papers, and settled in South Carolina about 1771. He early served in the
Rangers. He participated in the battle of Stono, the seige of Savannah, and took an active
part in the actions at Musgrove's Mill, King's Mountain, and Blackstocks. He had two
brothers killed by the Tories in the Fair Forest region during the war. He lived to enjoy
a pension, dying in Spartanburg County, May nth, 1851, aged about ninety-five year*.

AND ITS HEROES. Ill

gart over?" " I can try," responded Tinsley, who was
known to possess a good rifle, when, suiting the action to
the word, he took prompt aim, and fired — and sure enough,
turned him over, when some of his comrades picked the
fellow up, and carried him off. Another instance of sharp-
shooting is mentioned : One of the enemy, who had re-
crossed the ford, betook himself to a convenient tree, which,
however, did not fully protect his person, for Thomas
Gillespie, one of the Watauga riflemen, brought his rifle to
bear on the Tory's partially exposed body, and the next
moment he bit the dust.

It is related, that while the firing was yet kept up, on
the north side of the Enoree, an intrepid frontierman, Cap-
tain Sam Moore, led a small party of ten or twelve men
up the river, and crossing the stream at Head's Ford,
rushed down upon a portion of the enemy with such im-
petuosity and audacity as to impress them with the belief
that they were but the vanguard of a much larger force,
when they incontinently fled, and Moore rejoined his
victorious friends over the river.

Some interesting incidents connected with, and follow-
ing the battle, deserve a place in this connection. So many
of the British and Tory reserve as could, mounted to the
top of Musgrove's house, that they might witness the con-
test, not doubting for a moment that King George's men
could and would bear down all before them. They saw the
heroic Inman deliver his successive fires and retreat, fol-
lowed closely by Innes' pursuers ; and supposed this little
band constituted the whole of the Rebel party. To these
house-top observers, the bold invaders were beaten back —
routed ; when they threw up their hats, indulging in shouts
that made the old hill in the rear of Musgrove's resound
again, with echoes and re-echoes, in commemoration of
their imaginary victory. At length, reaching the concealed
Whigs, a tremendous fire burst upon their pursuers, which
caused a deathly paleness on the countenance of some fifty

112 KING 'S MO UN TAIN

of the reserve parly, who were it was said, paroled British
prisoners, doing duty contrary to the laws of war — they,
especially, dreading the consequences of a possible capture
at the hands of the Americans. Their shoutings ceased —
they peered anxiously, with bated breath, towards the con-
tending parties. At length they raised the cry of despair :
"We are beaten — our men are retreating;" and long
before the Tories had re-crossed the river, these demoral-
ized Britons had seized their knap-sacks, and were scam-
pering off towards Ninety Six at their liveliest speed.

The large patrolling party which had been down the
river near Jones' Ford, heard the firing, and came dashing
back at full speed ; and while descending the steep hill,
east of the old Musgrove domicile, their bright uniforms
and flashing blades and scabbards reflected the rays of the
morning sun just rising in its splendor. They reined up
their panting steeds before Musgrove's, the commanding
officer eagerly inquiring what was the matter. A hurried
account of the battle was given, which had terminated so
disastrously some thirty minutes before ; when, rising in his
stirrups, and uttering deep and loud imprecations, the cav-
alry commander ordered his men to cross the river. They
dashed at full speed over the rocky ford, splashing the
water, which, with the resplendent sun-rays, produced
miniature rainbows around the horses. They were too late,
for the victorious Americans had retired with their prison-
ers, leaving the British troopers the melancholy duty of
conveying their wounded fellows to the hospital at Mus-
grove's.

For many miles around, every woman and child of the
surrounding country, who were able to leave their homes,
visited the battle-ground — some for plunder, some from
curiosity, and others for a different purpose. It was chiefly
a Tory region, the few Whigs having retired from motives
of personal safety, joining Sumter and other popular lead-
ers. The most of these visitors were of Loyalist families ;

AND ITS HEROES. 113

and it was interesting to witness them, as well as the few
Whig ladies present, turning over the bodies of the slain,
earnestly examining their faces, to see if they could recog-
nize a father, husband, son, or brother. Not a few went
away with saddened hearts, and eyes bedewed with tears.

Sixteen Tories were said to have been buried in one
grave, near the mouth of Cedar Shoal creek — the particular
spot long since defaced and forgotten. Several were in-
terred between the battle-ground and ford, but a stone's
throw below where George Gordon resided some thirty years
since, on the west side of the old road ; while others were
buried in the yard of the late Captain Philemon Waters,
midway between the ford and battle-field, opposite the dog-
wood spring, and others yet were buried in a grave-yard,
just below Musgrove's house. A burial spot is still pointed
out on the battle-ridge, just east of the old road.

It was a complete rout on the part of the British and
Tories. They seem to have apprehended, that the Whig
forces, in the flush of victory, might push on to Ninety Six,
then believed to be in a weak and defenceless condition.
The Tory leader, Fanning, states, that after the battle, the
British retreated a mile and a quarter, where they encamped
for the remainder of the day ; and, in the night, marched
off towards Ninety Six, under the command of Captain
De Peyster. , This probably refers to only a part of the
enemy ; for the larger portion must have remained, if for
nothing else, at least to take care of their wounded.
Another British writer, Mackenzie, represents, that in the
retreat from the battle-ground, they were conducted by
Captain Kerr to the southern bank of the Enoree, where
they remained till reinforced by Lieutenant-Colonel Cruger
from Ninety Six. " Captain Kerr," says the Georgia his-
torian, McCall, "finding that resistance would be in vain,
and without hope of success, ordered a retreat, which was
effected in close order for four miles, resorting to the bayo-
net for defence in flank and rear. The pursuit was con-

114 KING 'S MO UNTAIN

tinued by the victors, until the enemy took refuge in Mus-
grove's Mill," which was on the south side of the Enoree, in
the north-east corner of the present county of Laurens,
noted on Mills' Atlas of South Carolina as Gordon's Mill.

Colonel Williams' official account represents that the
main fight — the one at the breast-work — lasted only fifteen
minutes, when the enemy were obliged to retreat, and were
pursued two miles ; and that Colonel Innes was reported to
be wounded by two balls — one in the neck and the other
breaking the thigh — and that three Tory Captains were
slain. "The enemy declared they suffered exceedingly in
the action with Colonel Williams ; that Captain Campbell,
an officer in high repute, of the regulars, among others,
was killed,"* and Governor Rutledge confirms the fact that
"one British Captain " was among the slain.

Shelby states, that the action continued an hour before
the enemy were repulsed in front of the breast-work ; while
McCall asserts, that it was "but a few minutes after the
contest began, when so many of the Provincial officers were
either killed or wounded, and "the men tumbled down in
heaps, without the power of resistance,'' when the survivors
retreated under Captain Kerr.f Probably Colonel Williams'
recollection of the length of the battle before the retreat,
written within a few days thereafter, is approximately cor-
rect ; and possibly well nigh an hour may have been con-
sumed by the time the enemy were driven across the ford, and
took refuge in the mill. "This action/' says Colonel Hill's
manuscript, " was one of the hardest ever fought in the
country with small arms alone ; the smoke was so thick as

* Statement in Virginia Gazette, September 27th, 1780, of William Allman, of Colonel
Stubblefield's regiment of Virginia militia, who was captured at Gates' defeat, and subse-
quently escaped from Camden.

f Captain James Kerr was probably a resident of Long Island or Connecticut, from
whose refugees most of the Queen's Rangers were raised, in which corps he was a Captain.
After the war, he retired on half-pay, first to New Brunswick, and then to King's county,
Nova Scotia, where he was made Colonel of the militia. He died at Amherst, in that
Province, in 1830, at the age of seventy-six. leaving a widow, who survived him ten years,
dying at seventy-four. Three sons and a daughter preceded him to the grave, but twelve
children survived him.

AND ITS HEROES. 115

to hide a man at the distance of twenty rods." Shelby
described this battle as "the hardest and best fought action
he ever was in " — attributing this valor and persistency to
* ' the great number of officers who were with him as volun-
teers."

It must be confessed, that the Provincials and Tories,
before their final rout, fought bravely. Their dragoons,
but lately raised, and indifferently disciplined, behaved with
much gallantry, fighting on the left with Innes. They all
exhibited, more or less, the training they had received
under that superior master, Ferguson. The British loss, in
this affair, was sixty-three killed, about ninety wounded,
and seventy prisoners — a total of not far from two hundred
and twenty-three, out of four or five hundred, which is an
unusually large proportion for the number engaged in the
action. The American loss was only four killed and eight
or nine wounded. This disparity in killed and wounded,
resulted largely from over-shooting* on the part of the
enemy, and the decided advantage which the trees and
breast-works afforded the Whigs for their protection. The
skill of the frontiermen in the use of their rifles was never
better displayed nor more effective ; while, in the retreat,
the loss fell almost exclusively on the panic-stricken British
and Tories.

Anxious to improve the advantage they had so signally
gained, Shelby and his heroic compeers at once resolved to
pursue the demoralized Tories, and make a dash for Ninety
Six, which they learned was in a weak condition ; and

♦Richard Thompson, of Fair Forest, when a boy of some twelve or fourteen years,
while on his way with his mother to visit his father, then imprisoned at Ninety Six, passed
over the battle-ground at Musgrove's a few days after its occurrence, and observed the
bullet marks on the trees — those of the British and Tories generally indicating an aim above
the heads of their antagonists, while those of the Whigs were from three to five feet above
the ground. He learned from his father and other prisoners at Ninety Six. that the fugi-
tives reported the Whig strength in that action as five thousand; and such was the con-
sternation of the garrison of Ninety Six on receipt of the news of the battle, that had the
victorious Whigs showed themselves there, it would have been difficult for Colonel Cruger
and his officers to have prevented a general stampede. — Saye's MSS., and Memoir of
Mcjunkin.

1 16 KING'S MO UNTAIN

being only some twenty-five miles distant, they could easily
reach there before night. Returning to their horses, and
mounting them, while Shelby was consulting Colonel
Clarke, Francis Jones, an express from Colonel McDowell,
rode up, in great haste, with a letter in his hand from Gen-
eral Caswell, who had, on the sixteenth, shared in General
Gates' total defeat near Camden, apprising McDowell of
the great disaster, and advising him and all officers com-
manding detachments to get out of the way, or they would
be cut off; McDowell sending word that he would at once
move towards Gilbert Town. General Caswell's hand-
writing was fortunately familiar to Colonel Shelby, so he
knew it was no Tory trick attempted to be played off upon
them. He and his associates instantly saw the difficulty of
their situation ; they could not retire to McDowell's camp,
for his force was no longer there — Gates' army was killed,
captured and scattered — and Sumter's, too, was soon destined
to meet the same fate ; in their rear was Cruger, with what-
ever of Innes' and Fraser's detachments remained, with
Ferguson's strong force on their flank. There was no
choice — further conquests were out of the question. So
Ninety Six was left unvisited by the mountaineers— doubt-
less for them, a fortunate circumstance, as they were with-
out cannon, and Colonel Cruger, who commanded there,
was no Patrick Moore, as his brave defence of that garri-
son against General Greene and his thousands, the following
year, sufficiently attested. It was, therefore, determined in
a hasty council on horseback, that they would take a back-
woods route, to avoid and escape Ferguson, and join Colo-
nel McDowell on his retreat towards Gilbert Town.

Hurriedly gathering the prisoners together, and dis-
tributing one to every three of the Americans, who conveyed
them alternately on horseback, requiring each captive to
carry his gun, divested of its flint, the whole cavalcade
were ready in a few minutes to beat a retreat, as they knew
full well that Ferguson would be speedily apprised of their

AND ITS HEROES. 117

success, and make a strenuous effort, as he did at WofFord's
Iron Works, to regain the prisoners. Here an amusing
incident occurred. Riding along the ranks, viewing the
prisoners, Colonel Williams recognized among them an old
acquaintance in the person of Saul Hinson, very diminutive
in size, who had the previous year served under his com-
mand at the battle of Stono, when the Colonel pleasantly
exclaimed: "Ah! my little Sauly, have we caught you?"
"Yes, Colonel," replied the little man, "and no d — d great
catch either ! " Saul's repartee only caused a laugh, and
neither that nor his false position subjected him to any thing
beyond the common restraint of a prisoner.

Some of the few wounded, who were not able to ride,
were necessarily left ; and, it is pleasant to add, they were
humanely cared for by the British, and especially by the
Musgrove family. Among them was one Miller, shot
through the body, whose injuries were believed to be mortal.
A silk handkerchief was drawn through the wound to cleanse
it. His parents, from the lower part of the present county
of Laurens, obtained the services of an old physician, Dr.
Ross, to attend to their wounded son, though it is believed
the British surgeons were not wanting in their professional
attentions. He at length recovered.

The Whig troopers, encumbered with their prisoners,
now hurried rapidly away in a north-westerly direction,
instead of a north-easterly one towards their old encamp-
ment. They passed over a rough, broken country, crossing
the forks of Tyger, leaving Ferguson on the right, and
heading their course towards their own friendly mountains.
As they expected, they were rapidly pursued by a strong
detachment of Ferguson's men.* Wearied as the mountain-
eers and their horses were, with scarcely any refreshment
for either, yet Shelby's indomitable energy permitted them

♦This detachment could not have been led by Captain De Peyster, as supposed by
Colonel Shelby, for that officer, as the Tory annalist, Fanning, asserts, accompanied him
from Musgrove's to Ninety Six the night after the battle, doubtless to notify Cruger of the
disaster, and obtain reinforcements.

118 KING'S MOUNTAIN

no rest while danger lurked in the way. Once or twice
only they tarried a brief period to feed their faithful
horses ; relying, for their own sustenance, on peaches and
green corn — the latter pulled from the stalks, and eaten in
its raw state as they took their turn on horse-back, or trotted
on foot along the trail, and which, in their hungry condi-
tion, they pronounced delicious. They were enabled, now
and then, to snatch a refreshing draught from the rocky
streams which they forded.

Late in the evening of the eighteenth, Ferguson's party
reached the spot where the Whigs had, less than thirty min-
utes before, fed their weary horses ; but not knowing how
long they had been gone, and their own detachment being
exhausted, they relinquished further pursuit. Not aware of
this, the Americans kept on their tedious retreat all night,
and the following day, passing the North. Tyger, and into
the confines of North Carolina — sixty miles from the battle-
field, and one hundred from Smith's Ford, from which they
had started, without making a stop, save long enough to
defeat the enemy at Musgrove's. It was a remarkable
instance of unflagging endurance, in the heat of a south-
ern summer, and encumbered, as they were, with seventy
prisoners. No wonder, that after forty-eight hours of such
excessive fatigue, nearly all the officers and soldiers became
so exhausted, that their faces and eyes were swollen and
bloated to that degree that they were scarcely able to see.

Reaching the mountain region in safety, they met Colo-
nel McDowell's party, considerably diminished in numbers,
as we may well suppose. Colonel Shelby, with the appro-
bation of Major Robertson, now proposed that an army of
volunteers be raised on both sides of the mountains, in suffi-
cient numbers, to cope with Ferguson. All of the officers,
and some of the privates, were consulted, and all heartily
united in the propriety and feasibility of the undertaking.
It was agreed that the Musgrove prisoners should be sent
to a place of security ; that the over-mountain men should

AND ITS HEROES. 119

return home to recruit and strengthen their numbers ; while
Colonel McDowell should send an express to Colonels
Cleveland and Herndon, of Wilkes, and Major Winston, of
Surry, inviting and urging them to raise volunteers, and
join in the enterprise ; and that Colonel McDowell should,
furthermore, devise the best means to preserve the beef
stock of the Whigs of the Upper Catawba valleys and
coves, which would undoubtedly be an early object of Fer-
guson's attention ; and McDowell was, moreover, to obtain
information of the enemy's movements, and keep the over-
mountain men constantly apprised of them.*

As the term of service of their men having expired,
Colonel Shelby and Major Robertson, with their Holston
and Watauga volunteers, parted company with Colonel
Clarke, leaving the prisoners in his charge, and took the
trail which led to their homes over the Alleghanies. Colo-
nels McDowell and Hampton, with their Burke and Ruth-
erford followers, now less than two hundred in number,
remained in the Gilbert Town region till forced back by the
arrival of Ferguson shortly after. Colonel Clarke, after
continuing some distance on his route, concluded to take
the mountain trails and return to Georgia, transferring the
prisoners to Colonel Williams, who, with Captain Ham-
mond, conducted them safely to Hillsboro. There, meeting
Governor Rutledge, of South Carolina, who supposing
Williams had the chief command of the expedition, as his
report was so worded as to convey that idea, conferred on
him as a reward for the gallant achievement, the commis-
sion of a Brigadier-General in the South Carolina militia
service, and, at the same time, promoted Captain Ham-
mond to the rank of a Major. But Shelby, Clarke, Bran-
don, Steen, McCall, McDowell, and Mcjunkin, who battled
so manfully at Musgrove's, were kept in the back-ground,
receiving no merited honors for their services and their suf-

*MS. Statements of Major Joseph McDowell, and Captain David Vance, preserved by
the late Robert Henry, of Buncombe Co., N. C, and both participants in this expedition.

120 KING 'S MO UNTAIN

ferings ; yet they, nevertheless, continued faithfully to serve
their country without a murmur.

Lord Cornwallis, on the twenty-ninth of August, wrote
to Sir Henry Clinton: " Ferguson is to move into Try on
county with some militia, whom he says he is sure he can
depend upon for doing their duty, and fighting well ; but I
am sorry to say, that his own experience, as well as that of
every other officer, is totally against him."* This is a tacit
acknowledgment, that Ferguson's detachments were deci-
dedly worsted in the several affairs at Cedar Spring, with
Colonel Jones beyond the head-waters of Saluda, at Earle's
Ford, near Wofford's Iron Works, and at Musgrove's. So
good a judge of military matters as Lord Cornwallis would
not have made such a report, had not the disastrous results
extorted the reluctant confession.

Some comparison of the principal authorities consulted,
which appear more or less contradictory in their character,
may not inappropriately be made in concluding this chap-
ter. Dawson, vaguely referring to the Shelby statements,
says they "differ so much from the contemporary reports,
that I have not noticed them." Colonel Shelby was in
every sense a real hero in war, and the details he furnishes
are no doubt reliable. But in after life, he appears, perhaps
imperceptibly, little by little, to have magnified the num-
bers, losses and prisoners in some of the contests in which
he was engaged — notably so of the Musgrove affair. The
venerable historian of Tennessee, Dr. J. G. M. Ramsey,
states in a letter before the writer, that he closely followed
a manuscript narrative of Governor Shelby in what he
records of the battle at Musgrove's — the same that Hay-
wood had used before him ; in which the British force is
given as four or five hundred, reinforced by six hundred
under Colonel Innes from Ninety Six, not, however, stating
the strength of the Whigs ; that more than two hundred
prisoners were taken, with a loss on the part of the victors of
only six or seven killed. In his statement to Hardin, Colonel

♦Correspondence of Cornwallis, i, 58-59.

AND ITS HEROES. 121

Shelby puts both the British and American strength at about
seven hundred — the former reinforced by six or seven hun-
dred more ; that over two hundred of the enemy were killed,
and two hundred made prisoners, with a Whig loss of Cap-
tain Inman and thirty others. Colonel Todd, in his sketch
of his father-in-law, Governor Shelby, gives the enemy's
force at Musgrove's at five or six hundred, reinforced by
six hundred under Innes ; but discards Shelby's exaggerated
account of losses and prisoners, adopting McCall's instead.
Colonel Williams' report, on the other hand, gives the
American force at two hundred, and the British originally
the same, reinforced by three hundred, killing sixty of the
enemy, and taking seventy prisoners, while the Americans
sustained a loss of only four killed, and seven or eight
wounded. Governor Abner Nash, of North Carolina,
writing September tenth, 1780, says: " Colonel Williams,
of South Carolina, two days after this (Gates') defeat, with
two hundred men, engaged four hundred of the British
cavalry, in a fair open field fight, and completely defeated
and routed them, killing sixty-three on the spot, and taking
seventy-odd prisoners, mostly British." Orondates Davis,
a prominent public character, writing from Halifax, North
Carolina, September twenty-seventh, 1780, states: "Colo-
nel Williams, of South Carolina, three [two] days after
Gates' defeat, fell in with a party of the enemy near Ninety
Six, and gave them a complete drubbing, killing seventy
on the spot, and taking between sixty and seventy prison-
ers, mostly British, with the loss of four men only." These
two statements, written, doubtless, on Williams' inform-
ation, appear in the North Carolina University Magazine
for March, 1855. McCall speaks of the British force as
three hundred and fifty, and the Americans about equal,
stating the British loss at sixty-three killed, and one hun-
dred and sixty wounded and taken, the Americans losing
only four killed and nine wounded ; while Mills, who does
not report the numbers engaged, gives the British loss at

122 KING 'S MO UNTAIN.

eighty-six killed, and seventy-six taken. Major James
Sevier stated the Whig force at two hundred and fifty, as
he learned it from his neighbors who participated in the
action immediately after their return home ; and Major
Mcjunkin placed the British strength at three hundred, and
the Americans at half the number.

Shelby's accounts, and those who follow them, give the
date of the action as August nineteenth ; but the eighteenth
has the weight of authority to sustain it — Williams' report,
Governor Nash's letter, September tenth, 1780, Ramsay's
Revolution in South Carolina, 1785, Moultrie, Gordon,
McCall, Mills, Lossing, O'Neall, and Dawson.

Note — Authorities for the Musgrove's Mill expedition: Colonel Williams' report
which General Gates, September 5, 1780, forwarded to the President of Congress, pub-
lished in Pennsylvania Packet, September 23, Massachusetts Spy, October 12, London
Chronicle, December 21, 1780, Scots' Magazine, December, 1780; Almon's Remembrancer,
xi, 87, and the substance, evidently communicated by Governor Rutledge, in Virginia
Gazette, September 13, 1780. Ramsay's Revolution, ii, 137; Moultrie's Memoirs, ii, 220;
Mackenzie's Strictures, 25-26; Fanning's Narrative, 12-13; Gordon's History, iii, 449;
McCall's Georgia, ii, 315-17. Shelby's accounts in Haywood's Tennessee, 65-67; Ramsey's
Tennessee, 217-19; American Whig 'Review, December, 1848; Todd's memoir of Shelby
in National Portrait Gallery, and in Western Monthly Magazine August 1836 ; Breazeale's
Life as it is, 51-52 ; Wheeler's North Carolina, ii, 57-58, ico; Hunter's Sketches 0/ Western
North Carolina, 337-39. Mills' Statistics, 255-56. 764; O'Neall's History Newberry, 71, 265,
312-13; Lossing's Field Book, ii, 444-45; Dawson's Battles, i, 620-22; Howe's History
Presbyterian Church of South Carolina, 526. MS. papers of Robert Henry. Also Saye's
Memoir of Mcjunkin, and Saye MSS ; MSS. of Dr. John H. Logan, furnishing many
traditions from the Musgrove family; Colonel William Hill's MS. Narrative of the Mus-
grove affair, derived from " an officer of high standing" who participated in the engage-
ment— the date and details going to show that Colonel Shelby was his authority; they
had met on the King's Mountain campaign. Pension statement of Captain Joseph
Hughes. MS. notes of conversations with Major James Sevier, son of Colonel John Sevier;
also with Major Thomas H. Shelby, son of Colonel Isaac Shelby, and Colonel George
Wilson, of Tennessee.

The pretended narrative of Colonel Samuel Hammond, in Johnson's Traditions , has
not been relied on. It, for instance, refers to the express, who brought intelligence of
Gates' defeat, also bringing news of Sumter's disaster at Fishing Creek, when, in fact, it
did not occur, until several hours later of the same day, and in a distant county. Colonel
Hammond, of course, never wrote anything of the kind.

AND ITS HEROES. 123

CHAPTER VII

1780 — Summer and Autumn.

Incidents of the Up-country. — Major Edward Musgrove. — Paddy Carr
and Beaks Musgrove. — The Story of Mary Musgrove. — Samuel
Clowneys Adventure. — William Kennedy s Forays Against the
Tories. — Joseph Hughes Escape. — William Sharp Bagging a
British and Tory Party. — Tories" Attack on Woods, and how dearly
he sold his life. — Plundering Sam. Brown.

Several interesting incidents transpired during the sum-
mer and early autumn of 1780, in the region of the present
counties of Laurens, Spartanburg, and Union, while Colo-
nel Ferguson yet held sway in that quarter. The more
striking of them deserve to be preserved in the history of
the times, as exhibiting something of the rancor and bitter-
ness engendered by civil warfare.

Edward Musgrove, whose name has been perpetuated
by the battle just narrated, fought near his residence, was a
native of England, and one of the earliest settlers of the
upper country of South Carolina. He had received a good
education, and was bred to the law. Possessing fine abili-
ties, large hospitality and benevolence, he was a practical
surveyor, giving legal advice, and drawing business papers
for all who needed them, for many miles around. He was
very popular, and exceedingly useful, in all the region, of
which his noted mill on the Enoree was the center.

Major Musgrove, for he bore that title, was a man a
little above medium height, of slender form, prematurely
gray, and possessed much firmness and decision of charac-
ter. He had passed the period of active life when the
Revolutionary war commenced, and was then living with
his third wife — too old to take any part in the bloody strife ;

124 KING'S MO UNTAIN

but with trembling lips, he plead each night for a speedy
return of peace and good will among men. He lived to
see his prayers answered, dying in 1792, in the seventy-
sixth year of his age, and was buried in the little grave-
yard, just behind the site of his house, near the old mill.

Beaks Musgrove was a son of the Major's by his first
wife. Partaking of the spirit of the times, and inspired by
such British leaders as the Cunninghams and Colonel Fer-
guson, he was induced to join the King's standard. Pat-
rick Carr, better known as Paddy Carr, was one of the
fearless Captains who served under Colonel Clarke, of
Georgia. He had been an Indian trader on the frontiers of
that Province, and was, on occasion, quite as reckless and
brutal as the worst specimens among the Red Men of the
forest. Hunting for Beaks Musgrove, he suddenly darted
into Major Musgrove's, at a moment when Beaks had come
in to change his clothing, and get some refreshments, and
had leaned his sword against the door-post, while his pretty
sister, Mary, was engaged in preparing him a meal. Carr
had dodged in so quietly and unexpectedly, that Beaks was
taken entirely by surprise, and without a moment's notice
to enable him to attempt his escape.

" Are you Beaks Musgrove? " inquired Carr.

" 1 am, sir," was the frank and manly reply.

"You are the man, sir, I have long been seeking," was
the stern response of the Whig Captain..

Mary Musgrove, seeing the drawn sword of her brother
in Carr's possession, earnestly inquired: "Are }rou Paddy
Carr?"

" I am," he replied.

" I am Mary Musgrove, Mr. Carr, and you must not
kill my brother, " at the same time imploringly throwing
herself between them.

Carr was evidently touched by the plea of artless beauty,
and struck with young Musgrove's manliness and fine sol-
dierly appearance, and said : " Musgrove, you look like a
man who would fight."

AND ITS HEROES. 125

" Yes," responded Musgrove, "there are circumstances
under which I would do my best."

" Had I come upon you alone," said Carr, "in possess-
ion of your arms, would you have fought me? "

"Yes — sword in hand," rejoined Musgrove.

Carr seemed pleased with his new acquaintance, who
was now so completely in his power, and boldly proposed
to him to become a member of his scout at once, and swear
never again to bear arms against the Americans. By this
time, Carr's men, who had been stationed in the cedar
grove some distance from the house, came up, to observe
what was transpiring, and, if need be, to render aid to their
leader.

Mary Musgrove, seeing her brother disposed to accede
to Carr's proposition, with a view, probably, of saving his
life, still had her fears awakened for his safety, and boldly
challenged the Captain's motives. " Captain Carr," she
asked, " I hope you do not intend to persuade my brother
to leave me, and then, when the presence of his sister is no
longer a restraint, butcher him in cold blood — pledge me,
sir, that such is not your purpose."

"I'll swear it," replied Carr, solemnly. Beaks Mus-
grove joined his party, but at heart he was a Tory still.
He, however, continued some time with Carr, constantly
gaining upon that bold leader's confidence ; but there is no
record or tradition tending to show how long the native
baseness of his heart permitted him to sustain his new char-
acter. There is no evidence that he ever after bore arms
against his country — perhaps he feared the terrible retribu-
tion Carr would certainly have visited upon him, had
he falsified the solemn oath he had taken. About the close
of the war, he quit the country, and never returned. He
left a son, who became a Baptist preacher, displaying, it is
said, much of the eccentricity and acuteness of the cele-
brated Lorenzo Dow.

By his second marriage, to a Miss Fancher, Major Mus-

126 KING 'S MO UN TAIN

grove had two daughters, Mary and Susan, aged respect-
ively some twenty-five and twenty-three years, at the period
of the war troubles of 1780-81 ; and both were akin to the
angels in their unwearied acts of mercy to the wounded and
the suffering in those trying times. They were young
women of marked attractions, both of mind and body ;
Mary, especially, was a young lady of rare beauty of per-
son, possessing a bright intellect, and much energy of char-
acter. She was the renowned heroine of Kennedy's popu-
lar story of " Horse-Shoe Robinson ; " and, in all the up-
country of South Carolina, he could not have chosen a more
beautiful character in real life with which to adorn the
charming pages of his historical romance. In Mary Mus-
grove's case —

"Beauty unadorned is adorned the most."

Both of these noble sisters fell early victims to the con-
sumption— Mary dying about one year, and Susan about
two years, after the war — both unmarried, and both quietly
repose in the little grave-yard beside their revered parents.

When Mary Musgrove was about passing away, she
selected her sister, and three other young ladies of the
neighborhood, to be her pall-bearers. Her body being very
light, they bore it to its final resting-place on silk handker-
chiefs. Just as they were lowering the coffin into the grave,
a kind-hearted lady present, the wife of a noted Tory, came
forward to render some little assistance, when a member of
the family, knowing Mary's devoted Whig principles,
gently interposed and prevented it. Such was the tender
respect shown to the memory of the worthy heroine of the
Enoree.*

A remarkable adventure of Samuel Clowney will next

♦Among Dr. Logan's MSS., is an interesting statement, to which we are indebted for
these particulars, from the late Captain P. M. Waters, son of Margaret Musgrove, the
oldest daughter, by his last marriage, of Major Musgrove— a girl of twelve summers at the
time of the memorable battle near her father's, in 1780. She married Ladon Waters, and
survived till 1824; and by her retentive memory these traditions, and several of those
related in the preceding chapter, were preserved.

AND ITS HEROES. 121

demand our attention. He was a native of Ireland, and
first settled on the Catawba river, in North Carolina, finally
locating in South Carolina. He was a most determined
Whig, and had joined Colonel Thomas at the Cedar Spring,
early in July. Obtaining with several others a brief leave
of absence, to visit their friends, and procure a change
of clothing, they set off for the settlement on the waters
of Fair Forest, known as Ireland or the Irish Settle-
ment, on account of the large number of settlers from
the Emerald Isle. On their route, the party left, with a
Mrs. Foster, some garments to be washed, and appointed a
particular hour, and an out-of-the-way place, where they
should meet her, and get them, on their return to camp.

In accordance with this arrangement, when the party
reached Kelso's creek, about five miles from Cedar Spring,
they diverged from the road through the woods to the ap-
pointed place, leaving Clowney, and a negro named Paul,
to take charge of their horses until they should return with
the washing. Presently five Tories, making their way to a
Loyalist encampment in that quarter, came to the creek ;
when Clowney, conceiving himself equal to the occasion,
and giving the negro subdued directions of the part he was
to act, yelled out in a commanding tone: "Cock your
guns, boys, and fire at the wrord ; " and then advancing to
the bank of the stream, as the Tories were passing through
it, demanded who they were? They answered: "Friends
to the King.'' To their utter astonishment, not dreaming
of a Whig party in the country, they were peremptorily
ordered by Clowney to come upon the bank, lay down their
arms, and surrender, or "every bugger of them would be
instantly cut to pieces.'' Being somewhat slow in showing
signs of yielding, Clowney sternly repeated his demand,
threatening them, with his well-poised rifle, of the fatal
consequences of disobedience ; when the terror-stricken
Tories, believing that a large force was upon them, quietly
surrendered without uttering a word.

128 KING 'S MO UNTA1N

Paul took charge of their guns, when Clowney, giving
some directions to his imaginary soldiers to follow in the
rear, ordered the prisoners " right about wheel," when
he marched them across the creek, directly before him,
till he at length reached the rest of his party at Mrs. Foster's
washing camp. They were then conducted to Colonel
Thomas' quarters. The prisoners were not a little cha-
grined, when they learned that their captors consisted of
only two persons — one of whom was an unarmed negro.
After arriving safely at Cedar Spring, his Colonel, when
told that Clowney and the negro alone had captured the
whole party, seemed at first a little incredulous that they
could accomplish such a feat.

"Why, Paddy," said the Colonel, "how did you take
all these men?"

"May it plase yer honor," he replied, exultingly, "by
me faith, I surrounded them ! "

Clowney was a real hero. This achievement of his at
Kelso's creek is well attested by many who knew him.
One of his acquaintances, in his terse way, described him
as " a little dry Irishman ; " and though he belonged to the
Presbyterian Church, like all of his Celtic race of that day,
without being intemperate, he could not refrain from getting
dry once in a while, and dearly loved "a wee bit of the
crathure" occasionally. He possessed a remarkable talent
for sarcasm and invective ; but he was, nevertheless, a most
kind-hearted, benevolent man, greatly beloved by all who
knew him. His brogue was quite rich, and this, combined
with a fund of genial Irish wit, made him a fascinating
companion. He died September twenty-seventh, 1824, in
his eighty-second year. His son, William K. Clowney,
who was a graduate of South Carolina College, and became
a prominent lawyer, represented his native district four
years in Congress.*

*MS. Logan papers; MS. notes of conversations with Dr. Alexander Q. Bradley, of
Alabama, and General James K. Means, a son-in-law of Clowney's, in 1871; Howe's His-
tory of Presbyterian Church in South Carolina, 534-35: Dr. Moore's Life of Lacey 32.

AND ITS HEROES. 129

Five miles south of Unionville, in the present county of
Union, was Fair Forest Shoal. There Colonel Thomas
Brandon resided ; but his military position required his
presence elsewhere much of the time during the active
period of the Revolution. His place, during his absence,
was well supplied by a few resolute Whigs, among whom
were old 'Squire Kennedy, his son William, Joseph Hughes,
William Sharp, Thomas Young, Joseph Mcjunkin, and
Christopher Brandon.

Among these brave and active patriots, William Ken-
nedy stood conspicuous. He was of French Huguenot
descent — the race to which Marion belonged. He was tall,
handsome, and athletic. His perception was quick, his
sagacity equal to any emergency, and his ability sufficient
for a great commander. But he persistently refused to
accept any office, choosing rather to serve as a common
soldier. He was regarded as the best shot with his rifle of
any person in all that region. Whether on foot or horse-
back, at half-speed or a stand-still, he was never known to
miss his aim. His rifle had a peculiar crack when fired,
which his acquaintances could recognize ; and when its
well-known report was heard, it was a common remark —
" there is another Tory less"

Although he held no commission, yet the men of the
neighborhood acknowledged him as their leader when dan-
ger was nigh, and their feet were ever in the stirrup at his
bidding. His efforts were often called into requisition by
the plundering excursions of the Tories sent out under the
auspices of Ferguson, Dunlap, and their subordinate offi-
cers. He and his comrades often saved their settlement from
being over-run by these scouting parties. The crack of
Kennedy's rifle was sure to be heard whenever a Tory was
found ; and it was the well-known signal for his friends to
hasten to his assistance. He seemed almost to " snuff the
battle from afar;" and the flush of determination would suf-
fuse his manly countenance whenever he had reason to
believe the enemy were near.

130 KING >S MO UNTAIN.

On one occasion, a British and Tory scouting party
penetrated the settlement, and began their customary work
of plundering the women and children of every thing they
possessed, whether to eat or to wear. One of Kennedy's
runners went to the hiding-place of Christopher Brandon
and two companions — for they were, in the language of the
times, out-lyers, and could not with safety stay at home for
fear of being massacred by the Tories — and notified them
of an enterprise on foot. They mounted their horses, and
hastened at half-speed to the place of rendezvous. Pursu-
ing an unfrequented cow-path through a dense forest, they
stopped a moment at a small branch crossing their trail, to
permit their jaded horses to quench their thirst, and then
renew their journey. The crack of a rifle scattered the
brains of one of Brandon's companions on his clothes and
in his face, the same ball grazing his cheek, the dead body
of the victim tumbling into the brook beneath. The two
survivors put spurs to their horses, when more than a dozen
rifles were fired at them from an unseen enemy behind the
trees ; but they fortunately escaped uninjured. The Tory
party had heard the galloping of the horses of Brandon and
his friends, and laid in wait for them.

Reaching the place of meeting, some fifteen or twenty
had assembled under their bold leader, Kennedy, and were
ready for a hot pursuit. They overtook the Tory band a
few minutes before sunset. They were plundering a house
in a field a few rods from the public road ; and the Whig
pursuers had their attention first attracted by the cries of the
woman and her children. The Tories had a sentinel out-
side, who fired as the Whigs came near ; and, on the alarm,
those within instantly dashed out, mounted their horses, and
fled. The Whigs divided, each pursuing his man at full
speed. Kennedy directed young Brandon, who was inex-
perienced, to keep near him, and only fire when told to do
so. The leader of the Tory party, whose name was Neal,
was the one singled out and pursued by Kennedy. He fled

AND ITS HEROES. 131

through an open field, towards the woods, at some distance
away ; but Kennedy kept the road, running nearly parallel
with the fugitive, till he reached an open space in the hedge-
row of bushes that had partially obstructed the view, when
he suddenly called out whoa! to his horse, who had been
trained instantly to obey ; and, as quick as thought, the
crack of Kennedy's rifle brought Neal tumbling to the
ground. He was stone-dead when Kennedy and Brandon
came up, having been shot through the body in a vital part.
The distance of Kennedy's fire was one hundred and forty
yards. More than half of the Tory party was killed.
" Not one was taken prisoner," as Brandon related the
adventure in his old age, " for it occurred but seldom — our
rifles usually saved us that trouble." Re-taking the Tory
booty, it was all faithfully restored to the distressed woman
and children.*

On the heights at Fair Forest Shoal was an old stockade
fort or block-house. Many tragic incidents occurred there,
and in its neighborhood. A Tory, whose name has been
forgotten, had, with his band, done much mischief in that
region ; and, among other unpardonable sins, had killed
one of William Kennedy's dearest friends. The latter
learned that the culprit was within striking distance, and
called his friends together, who went in search of him.
The two parties met some two or three miles from the
block-house, when a severe contest ensued. The Tories
were routed ; and the leader, who was the prize Kennedy
sought, fled. Kennedy, Hughes, Sharp, Mcjunkin and
others pursued. The chase was one of life or death. The
Tory approached the bank of Fair Forest at a point, on a
high bluff', where the stream at low water was perhaps
twenty or thirty yards over, and quite deep. The fleeing

*MS. notes of Hon. Daniel Wallace, communicated to William Gilmore Simms, the
distinguished novelist and historian of South Carolina, and kindly furnished the writer by
Mr. Simms' daughter, Mrs. Edward Roach, of Charleston. Mr. Wallace was a native of
the up-country of South Carolina, and represented his district in Congress from 1847 t0
1853. He died a few years since.

132 KING 'S MO UNTAIN

Loyalist, hemmed around by his pursuers on the bluff, just
where they aimed to drive him, hesitated not a moment,
but spurred his horse, and plunged over the bank, and into
the stream below — a fearful leap. His pursuers followed,
and at the opposite bank they made him their prisoner.

Their powder being wet by its contact with the water,
they resolved to take their captive below to the block-house
and hang him. When they arrived there, the officer in
command would" not permit him to be disposed of in that
summary manner, but ordered him to be taken to Colonel
Brandon's camp, a considerable distance away, to be tried
by a court martial. Kennedy was placed at the head of the
guard, but the Tory begged that Kennedy might not be
permitted to go, as he apprehended he would take occasion
to kill him on the way. Evidently intending to make an
effort to escape, he did not wish the presence of so skillful
a shot as Kennedy. His request, however, was not heeded.
He took an early occasion to dash off at full speed ; but
Kennedy's unerring rifle soon stopped his flight, and his
remains were brought back to the foot of the hill, near the
block-house, and there buried. The Tory's grave was
still pointed out within a few years past.*

The name of Joseph Hughes has been mentioned as one
of the faithful followers of William Kennedy. Both were
proverbially brave — Hughes was probably the more reckless
of the two — possessed more of a dare-devil character.
Early one morning, he left his hiding-place, as one of the
honored band of out-lyers, who preferred freedom at any
sacrifice rather than tamely yield to the oppression around
them, and visited his humble domicile, to see his little family,
residing on the west side of Broad river, near the locality
of the present village of Pinckneyville. He approached his
house cautiously on horse-back, and when within a rod,
three Tories suddenly sprang out of the door, and present-
ing their guns, said exultingly : —

* Wallace Manuscript.

AND ITS HEROES. 133

" You d — d Rebel, you are our prisoner ! "

" You are d — d liars ! " defiantly yelled Hughes, as he
instantly spurred his horse to his full speed. As he cleared
the gate at a single leap, all three fired, but missed their
mark, and he escaped without a scratch. These Tories had
watched for him all night, and had just entered the house to
get their breakfast as he rode up. They were naturally
quite chop- fallen, when, having taken so much pains to
secure so plucky an enemy of the King, they found them-
selves, in the end, so completely foiled in their purpose.*

On another occasion, when a scouting party of British
and Tories was passing through what is now Union Count y,
committing robberies, as was their wont, when they little
suspected it, their footsteps were dogged by William Sharp,
one of Kennedy's fearless heroes, with two associates. At
Grindal Shoals, a notable ford of Pacolet, they came upon
the enemy. It was in the night, and very dark, which con-
cealed their numbers, and favored their daring enterprise.
The first intimation the British and Tories had of danger,
was a bold demand on the part of Sharp and his associates
for them to surrender instantly, or they would be blown into
a region reputed pretty hot. In the surprise of the moment,
they begged for quarter, and laid down their arms, to the
number of twenty. The victors threw their guns into the
river, before their prisoners discovered their mistake, and
drove the captives to the nearest Whig encampment in that
region, f

In a quiet nook in Spartanburg lived a man named
Woods — on one of the Forks of Tyger, we believe. He
was not known as particularly demonstrative or combative
among his neighbors, but was a true patriot, and unflinch-
ing in times of danger. One day, when at home with his
wife, he found his house surrounded by a party of deter-
mined Tories. Seeing so overwhelming a superiority of

* Wallace Manuscript,
t Wallace Manuscript.

134 KING 'S MO UNTAIN

numbers against him, Woods, who had closed his house
against them, proposed if they would, in good faith, agree
to spare his own and wife's lives, they might come in un-
opposed, and take whatever they wanted, otherwise, as he
had two guns, he would sell his life as dearly as possible.
They would make no promises, but demanded an uncon-
ditional surrender. Woods commenced the unequal battle,
availing himself of a crack between his house-logs, which
served him as a port-hole, and kept up a brisk firing, his
heroic wife loading his guns for him as fast as either was
empty, till he had killed three of his assailants. They now
became more desperate than ever, and, through the same
crack, managed to send a ball which broke Mrs. Woods'
arm. In the confusion of the moment, while Woods was
assisting his wife, the Tories seeing his fire had slackened,
rushed up to the door which they battered down, and cap-
tured the intrepid defender. They took him a few rods
away, into a copse of wood, where they soon beat him to
death with clubs. Mrs. Woods was spared, and recovered.*
In what was originally a part of Try on, now Lincoln
County, North Carolina, were many Loyalists. Among
them was Samuel Brown, who had been reared there, and
proved himself not only an inveterate Tory, but a bold and
unscrupulous plunderer. He had a sister, Charity Brown,
who must have been a rough, reckless, bad woman. For
quite a period, the two carried on very successful plunder-
ing operations — including horses, bed-clothes, wearing ap-
parel, pewter-ware, money, and other valuable articles.
Sometimes they had confederates, but oftener they went
forth alone on their pillaging forays. About fifteen miles
west of Statesville, North Carolina, three miles above the
Island Ford, there is a high bluff on the western side of the
Catawba river, rising three hundred feet high, at a place
known as the Look-Out Shoals. About sixty feet from the

* MS. notes of conversations, in 1871, with Major A. J. Wells, of Montevallo, Alabama,
a native of Spartanburg County, South Carolina.

AND ITS HEROES. 135

base of this bluff, under an over-hanging cliff, was a cave
of considerable dimensions, sufficient to accommodate sev-
eral persons, but the opening to which is now partially
closed by a mass of rock sliding down from above. This
cave was the depository for the plunder taken by stealth or
violence from the poverty-stricken people in the country for
many miles around ; for their depredations extended from
the Shallow Ford of Yadkin to the region embracing the
several counties of the north-western portion of South Caro-
lina.

Sam Brown was once married to the daughter of a man
residing near the Island Ford, but his wife, disliking the man,
or his treatment of her, left him and returned to her father ;
and in revenge for harboring and protecting her, Brown
went one night and killed all his father-in-law's stock. A
poor old blind man, named David Beard, living on Fourth
creek, near what is now called Beard's bridge, about seven
miles east of States ville, had a few dollars in silver laid up,
which Brown unfeelingly filched from him. Beard re-
proached him for his wrongs and cruelties, and reminded
him that he would have a hard account to render at the day
of judgment for robbing a person in his poor and helpless
condition.

" It's a long trust," retorted Brown; "but sure pay,"
promptly rejoined Beard.

So notorious had become the robber's achievements,
that he was known in all that region as Plundering Sam
Brown. Among the Tories, he was designated as Captain
Sam Brown. As early as the Spring of 1778, he was
associated with the Tory leader, David Fanning ; and they
were hiding in the woods together on Reaburn's creek, in
now Laurens County, South Carolina, for the space of six
weeks, living entirely upon what they killed in the wilder-
ness, without bread or salt. There were too many watchful
Whigs in this region to suit Brown's notions, so he wended
his way to Green river, in what is now Polk County, in the
south-western part of North Carolina.

136 KING 'S MO UNTAIN

The advent of Colonel Ferguson to the up-country of
South Carolina proved a perfect God-send to such hardened
wretches as Brown. They could now dignify their plunder-
ing with the sanction of his Majesty's faithful servants,
Colonel Ferguson, Colonel Innes, and Major Dunlap. To
such an extent had the people of the Spartanburg region
been raided and over-run, during the summer of 1780, by
these persistent pillagers, that the men had been compelled
to fly to the distant bodies of Whigs under McDowell or
Sumter, or become out-lyers in the wilderness. This left
a comparatively open field for the marauders, and they
were not slow to avail themselves of it. Captain Brown
and his followers made frequent incursions in that quarter.
He ventured, on one occasion, to the house of Josiah Cul-
bertson, on Fair Forest, accompanied by a single associate
named Butler, and inquired of Mrs. Culbertson for her hus-
band. But this young woman, the daughter of the heroic
Mrs. Colonel Thomas, gave him some pretty curt and un-
satisfactory answers. Brown became very much provoked
by this spirited woman, and. retorted in much abusive and
indecent language ; assuring her, furthermore, that he
would, in a few da}^, return with his company, lay her
house in ashes, kill her husband, and plunder and murder
the principal Whigs of the neighborhood. After a good
deal of tongue lashing, and bravado of this character,
Brown and Butler rode off, leaving Mrs. Culbertson to
brood over her painful apprehensions.

Brown's cup of iniquity was running over, and the day
of retribution was at hand. Fortunately, Culbertson re-
turned home that night, accompanied by a friend, Charles
Hollo way, who was as brave and fearless as himself. The
story of Brown's visit, his threats and insolence, very
naturally roused Culbertson's feelings — indignation and re-
sentment pervaded his whole nature. Beside this disgrace-
ful treatment of his wife, Brown had apprehended the elder
Colonel Thomas, the father of Mrs. Culbertson, soon after

AND ITS HEROES. 137

the fall of Charleston, and carried him, two of his sons,
and his negroes and horses, to the British, at Ninety Six.
Culbertson determined to capture the redoubtable plun-
derer, or rid the country of so great a scourge. Holloway
was equally ready for the enterprise.

Early the next morning, reinforced by William Neel,
William Mcllhaney, and one Steedman,* they followed the
tracks of the two marauders some ten or twelve miles, when
they discovered Brown's and Butler's horses in a stable on
the road-side, belonging to Dr. Andrew Thompson, in the
region of Tyger river, where they had stopped for rest and
refreshment. Culbertson's party now retraced their steps
some distance, hitched their horses out of sight, and crept
up within shot of Thompson's, posting themselves behind
the stable, and eagerly watched the appearance of the Tory
free-booters. At length Brown stepped out of the house
into the yard, followed by Butler ; and as the Tory Captain
was enjoying lazily a rustic yawn, with his hands locked
over his head, he received a shot from Culbertson's deadly
rifle, at a distance of about two hundred yards. The ball
passed directly through his body, just below his shoulders,
and making a desperate bound, he fell dead against the door-
yard fence. Holloway's fire missed Butler, the ball lodging
in the door-jamb, just behind him ; but without waiting to
learn the fate of his leader, or to secure his horse, he fled
to the woods and escaped. Brown was an active, shrewd,
heartless man — the terror of women and children wherever
his name was known. Butler, it is believed, took the hint,
and never re-appeared in Spartanburg.

One tradition has it, that Brown's life of robbery and
out-lawry commenced even before the Revolution, which
may very well have been so. The amount of money con-

* In a MS. letter of Colonel Elijah Clarke to General Sumter, October 2gth, 1780, occurs
this statement: ■' I am to inform you, that the Tories killed Captains Hampton and Stid-
man, at or near Fair Forest"— the latter, perhaps, the associate of Culbertson, in his suc-
cessful foray against Brown, and for that very reason he probably lost his life, in retaliation,
on the part of Brown's friends.

138 KING 'S MO UN TAIN

cealed by him was supposed to be large — the fruits of his
predatory life ; and frequent searches have been made to
find the hidden treasure. In his secluded cave, he kept a
mistress, but she professed ignorance of his localities of de-
posit. A small sum only has been discovered by accident.
The probabilities are, he never accumulated much money,
as the frontier people whom he plundered were poor, and
but little specie was in circulation beyond the immediate
neighborhood of the British troops.

After the death of her despicable brother, poor Charity
Brown fled westward to the mountain region of what is now
Buncombe and Haywood, and before her death, it is related,
she made some revelations where to find valuables buried in
the vicinity of the cave at the Look-Out Shoals ; and among
articles subsequently discovered, were twelve sets of pewter-
ware, which had been concealed in a large hollow tree.
This, in the course of time, had been blown down by the
wind, and thus revealed this long hidden booty of the rob-
bers of the Catawba. It is currently stated by the super-
stitious of that region, that when one comes near the cave,
and tries to bring his batteau to land at the base of the cliff,
he hears a fearful noise — not proceeding from the cave, so
far above the water, but from the rock at the bottom.

However this may be, Culbertson and Holloway, after
their successful work at Thompson's, deliberately wiped
their guns, reloaded them, and were again prepared for any
perilous adventure. Not very long after Brown's death,
which was a source of rejoicing among the Whigs in all
that region, Culbertson received word, that a noted Tory,
whom he knew, then in North Carolina, threatened to kill
him, in retaliation for Brown's death. They met one day
unexpectedly, and instantly recognized each other, when
both fired their rifles almost simultaneously ; Culbertson's
cracked a moment first — the Tory fell dead, while the Whig
rifleman escaped unhurt.

Such sanguinary relations of civil warfare make one's

AND ITS HEROES. 139

blood almost curdle in the veins. The unmerciful conduct
of Tarleton at Buford's defeat, had engendered a feeling of
savage fury on the part of the Whigs, and as bitterly recipro-
cated on the part of the Tories, which, in time, amounted
to the almost utter refusal of all quarter. So that in the
Carolinas and Georgia, the contest became, to a fearful
extent, a war of ruthless bloodshed and extermination.*
General Greene, a few months later, wrote thus freely of
these hand-to-hand strifes: "The animosity,'' he said,
" between the Whigs and Tories, rendered their situation
truly deplorable. There is not a day passes but there are
more or less who fall a sacrifice to this savage disposition.
The Whigs seem determined to extirpate the Tories, and
the Tories the Whigs. Some thousands have fallen in this
way in this quarter, and the evil rages with more violence
than ever. If a stop can not be put to these massacres, the
country will be depopulated in a few months more, as
neither Whig nor Tory can live."t

*The authorities for the story of Plundering Sam Brown are : Farming's Narrative ;
obituary notice of Josiah Culbertson, in the Washington, Indiana, Weekly Register, Octo-
ber 17th, 1839, with comments thereon, by Major Mcjunkin, preserved among the Saye
MSS.; Ex-Governor B. F. Perry's sketch of Culbertson. in the Orion Magazine, June.
1844; Johnson's Traditions, 423; and sketch of Sam Brown, by Rev. E. R. Rockwell, of
North Carolina, in the Historical Magazine, October, 1873.

t Greene's Life 0/ Greene^ iii, 227.

140 KING'S MO UN TAIN

CHAPTER VIII.

August, 1780— March, 1781.

Cornwallis1 Hanging Propensities. — Sumter a thorn in his Lordship's
side. — Dispersion of Whig Bands. — Ferguson's Success in Training
the Loyal Militia. — Action of the Alarmed Tory Leaders. — Ferguson
Moves into Try on County. — Colonel Graham Repels a Party of Plun-
derers.— Ruse for Saving Whig Stock. — Mrs. Lytle and her Beaver
Hat. — Engagement on Cane Creek, and Major Dunlap wounded. —
Apprehension of Jonathan Hampton. — Dunlafs Lnsolence. — Sketch
of Dunlap" s Career and Death.

Lord Cornwallis' success at Camden had, like the
mastiff fed on meat and blood, made him all the more
fierce for further strife and carnage. Two days after
Gates' defeat, his Lordship wrote to Lieutenant-Colonel
Cruger, at Ninety Six : " I have given orders that all the
inhabitants of this Province, who had submitted, and who
have taken part in this revolt, should be punished with the
greatest rigor; that they should be imprisoned, and their
whole property taken from them or destroyed ; I have like-
wise directed that compensation should be made out of
their effects to the persons who have been plundered and
oppressed by them. I have ordered, in the most positive
manner, that every militia man who had borne arms with
us, and had afterwards joined the enemy, should be imme-
diately hanged. I have now, sir, only to desire that you
will take the most vigorous measures to extinguish the
rebellion, in the district in which you command, and that
you will obey, in the strictest manner, the directions I have
given in this letter, relative to the treatment of the country. "*

*This is the language of his Lordship's letter to Lieutenant-Colonel Cruger, as given in
the Cornwallis' Correspondence, i, 56-57. His Lordship seems to have equivocated about

AND ITS HEROES. 141

These sanguinary orders were, in many cases, most faith-
fully obeyed — Tarleton, Rawdon, Balfour and Browne, par-
ticularly demonstrating their fitness for carrying into effect
these tyrannical measures.

Sumter, by his plucky and frequent attacks on several
British detachments, had proved himself a thorn in his
Lordship's side. He had made a bold push against Lieu-
tenant-Colonel Turnbull at Rocky Mount ; then practically
defeated Major Carden and the Tory Colonel Bryan, at
Hanging Rock ; and finally captured Fort Carey, and a
large convoy, below Camden. These were audacious
things to do, evincing great contempt of his Majesty's
Government, and of his Lordship's power and consideration
in the Province. Turnbull, after Sumter's attack, had re-
tired to Ferguson's quarters, on Little river ; and Ferguson
meanwhile, had pushed further north to the Fair Forest
region. On his great victory over Gates, Cornwallis direc-
ted Turnbull and Ferguson to immediately put their corps
in motion, and push on, if possible, to intercept Sumter's
retreat towards North Carolina with his prisoners and spoils
of victory. Tarleton was also sent in his pursuit, overtak-
ing and surprising him at the mouth of Fishing creek, only
two days after Gates' melancholy disaster near Camden.

As we hear nothing more of Turnbull in the Ninety Six
region, it is to be presumed that he was, not long after,
recalled to the eastern part of South Carolina. The orders
of Lord Cornwallis, which must have reached Colonel Fer-
guson shortly after the affair at Musgrove's Mill, seem to
have set that officer's forces in motion. After driving
Clarke, Shelby, and Williams out of the Province, it only
remained to pay his attention to McDowell's party, at
Smith's Ford, on Broad river. On receipt of General Cas-
well's letter, announcing the disaster of Gates, and advising

the subject-matter of this letter; but he wrote a similar one, the same month, fully as
blood-thirsty in its tone, to Lieutenant-Colonel Balfour, which is given in Sparks' Wash-
ington, vii, 555-6.

142 KING 'S MO UNTAIN

the independent detachments to retire beyond the reach of
the victorious British, McDowell's force mostly disbanded
and scattered — some of them, perhaps, like Shelby's men,
because their term of service had expired ; while others, it
may be, like Clarke's Georgians, because they were volun-
teers at pleasure. What was left of McDowell's command
— less than two hundred, apparently — retired to their own
mountain region of North Carolina, in the counties of
Rutherford and Burke.

That Ferguson, during the period he held command in
the up-country, had been both untiring and successful, is
well attested by a report of Lord Cornwallis to the Home
Government, August twentieth, 1780: "In the district of
Ninety Six," says his Lordship, "by far the most populous
and powerful of the Province, Lieutenant-Colonel Balfour,
by his great attention and diligence, and by the active
assistance of Major Ferguson, who was appointed Inspector-
General of the militia of this Province by Sir Henry Clin-
ton, had formed seven battalions of militia, consisting of
above four thousand men, and entirely composed of persons
well-affected to the British Government, which were so
regulated, that they could, with ease, furnish fifteen hundred
men, at a short notice, for the defense of the frontier, or
any other home service. But I must take this opportunity
of observing, that this militia can be of little use for distant
military operations, as they will not stir without a horse ; and,
on that account, your Lordship will see the impossibility of
keeping a number of them together without destroying the
country." Turning their horses into fields of grain, and eat-
ing out one settlement, the}' would soon necessarily have
to remove to another.

Only five days before the action at Musgrove's, while
Ferguson and his troops were encamped at Fair Forest
Shoal, in Brandon's Settlement, an important meeting
was held there by the Loyalist officers and their men.
The North Carolina battalion under Colonel Ambrose Mills,

AND ITS HEROES. 143

and the six South Carolina battalions — Cunningham's, Kirk-
land's, Clary's, King's, Gibbs1 and Plummer's were there in
camp, while Lieutenant-Colonel John Philips, battalion, and
another, were stationed at Edward Mobley's settlement, in
the adjoining county of Fairfield, some twenty -five miles
distant. All the Colonels seem to have been absent — Clary
at Musgrove's ; but all the battalions were represented at
the meeting. Lieutenant-Colonel Philips, Lieutenant-Colo-
nel W. T. Turner, Majors Daniel Plummer, Zachariah
Gibbs, and John Hamilton, and Adjutant Thomas D. Hill,
Jr., being present.

These Loyalist chiefs, who had flattered themselves that
the Rebellion was, to all intents and purposes, quelled, and
that they would soon be made lords and masters over the con-
quered communities, now began to realize that the Whigs of
the country would not " down'' at their bidding— that Sum-
ter, Marion, McDowell, Williams, Shelby, Clarke, Thomas,
Brandon, Mcjunkin, and other leaders, were in arms, boldly
attacking Tory parties whenever they could meet them on
anything like an equal footing. The Loyal militia, when
danger began to stare them in the face, showed signs of
weakening and lagging. It was, therefore, important, as
"the Rebels were again in the field," as they expressed it,
that they should provide severe punishments for all of their
Loyalist delinquents ; that their horses, cattle, grain, and
arms should be forfeited, and they should be brought to
trial, and punished in person as they deserved. They
furthermore gave it as their unanimous expression, that
whoever should act a treacherous part by abandoning the
Royal cause, deserting his battalion, or disobeying the
orders of his commanding officers, is a worse enemy to the
King and country than even the Rebels themselves, and
that all good Loyalists should assist in the defense of the
country, and that whoever neglects to assemble, and do

144 KING'S MOUNTAIN

service in the Loyal militia, should be made to serve in the
regular army.*

Lord Cornwallis, on the twenty-ninth of August, an-
nounced to Sir Henry Clinton: "Ferguson is to move
into Try on county with some militia, whom, he says, he
can depend upon for doing their duty and fighting well ;
but I am sorry to say that his own experience, as well as
that of every other officer is totally against him." It is not
a little singular, that his Lordship, with his poor opinion of
the fighting qualities of the Tories, should have ordered
Ferguson so far beyond the reach of succor, in case of
danger. As he could not spare any detachment of regulars
to give them countenance, he probably hoped that the
Whigs were so far cowed and dispersed, that they would
not give Ferguson any serious opposition.

As McDowell, Clarke, Shelby, and Williams had retired
to the back parts of North Carolina, Ferguson, after awhile,
followed into that quarter. His detachments, however,
during the heats of summer, performed many of their move-
ments at night, and kept beating about in various direc-
tions, sometimes in the North Province and sometimes in
the South, in search of prominent Whig leaders, over-awing
all opposition, plundering whenever they found anything
which they needed or coveted, and administering the oath
of allegiance to all who would take it, with liberal tenders
of pardon to those who had been active and prominent par-
ticipators in the rebellion. Many submissions were made ;
but oftener, when Ferguson's and Dunlap's parties would
call for the head of a Whig family, he was pretty certain,
nine cases out of ten, not to be found at home — where he
was, his wife and children could not say, for, in truth, they
seldom knew, for the patriots and out-lyers beat about quite
as much as those in quest of them.

In consequence of this state of affairs, the old people,

*MS. record obtained by Colonel Sevier from a Tory Colonel at King's Mountain, as
given in Ramsey's Tennessee, 216-17.

AND ITS HEROES. 145

together with the women and children, would frequently
gather at the strongest and largest house in their region,
taking with them all their arms, ammunition, and such house-
hold goods as they needed, or could not conceal, with some-
times a few men in vigorous life for their protection. Such
a gathering in Colonel William Graham's neighborhood
took place at his residence, near the west bank of Buffalo
creek, in then Lincoln, now Cleveland county, about eight
miles north of King's Mountain, and about seven miles
south-east of the present village of Shelby. It was a large,
hewn-log-house, weather-boarded, and, to some extent, forti-
fied ; well fitted for a successful defence against any party
with small arms alone, and who were not prepared to prose-
cute a regular siege.

Sometime in September, one of these Tory marauding
parties, consisting of about twenty-three in number, sud-
denly made their appearance before Graham's Fort. The
only persons there capable of bearing arms, for the defence
of the many helpless people, old and young, congregated
there, were Colonel Graham, David Dickey, and the Colo-
nel's step-son, William Twitty, a brave youth of nineteen ;
but they were fearless and vigilant. The Tory party
demanded admittance, but were promptly refused by Colo-
nel Graham and his associates. A warm attack was com-
menced, the Tories firing several volleys, without doing
much damage, yelling out at the top of their voices, after
each discharge, "d — n you, won't you surrender now?"

One fellow, John Burke, more venturesome than the
rest, ran up to the house, and through a crack aimed at
young Twitty, when Susan Twitty, the sister of the young
soldier, seeing his peril, jerked her brother down just as
the gun fired, the ball penetrating the opposite wall. She
then looked out of the aperture, and saw Burke, not
far off, on his knees, re-loading for another fire ; and
quickly comprehending the situation, exclaimed: " brother
William, now's your chance — shoot the rascal ! " The next

146 KING 'S MO UNTAIN

instant young Twitty's gun cracked, and the bold Tory was
shot through the head. So eager was Miss Twitty to ren-
der the good cause any service in her power, that she at
once unbarred the door, darted out, and brought in, amid
a shower of Tory bullets, Burke's gun and ammunition, as
trophies of victory. She fortunately escaped unhurt. It
was a heroic act for a young girl of seventeen.* Losing
one of their number killed, and three wounded, the Tories
at length beat a retreat. Anticipating that the enemy,
smarting under their repulse, would return with increased
numbers, Colonel Graham and friends retired to a more dis-
tant place of safety, when a large Tory party re-appeared,
with no one to oppose them, and plundered the house of
clothing and other valuables, and carried off six of Colo-
nel Graham's negroes. f

Another instance where a party of the enemy fared no
better, occurred during the Tory ascendency in 1780.
Adam Reep, a staunch Whig, returning home, after a tour
of service under Colonel Graham, to visit his family, on the
western bank of the Catawba river, in Lincoln County,
had scarcely reached his humble domicile, when a party of
ten or twelve Tories, under the leadership of a British offi-
cer, made their appearance just at the gray of the evening.
Reep, who, like a good minute man, was always on the
watch, had barely time to close and bar his doors, when he
mounted his ladder with his faithful rifle ; and through some
port-holes in the loft of his house, he blazed away at his
enemies, wounding two of them, when the party fell back

* This noble heroine subsequently married John Miller, and died the 14th of April, 1825,
at the age of sixty-two years. Her son, Hon. W.J. T. Miller, represented Rutherford
County, in the Legislature of North Carolina, in 1836-40, and subsequently Cleveland
County, when it was organized, and where he still resides an honored and useful citizen.

Mrs. Miller's brother, William Twitty, who aided so gallantly in the defense of Gra-
ham's Fort, was born in South Carolina, July 13th, 1761; he served at King's Mountain,
and lived at Twitty's Ford, on Broad river, where he died February 2d, 1816, in his fifty-
fifth year. He has many worthy decendants, among them William L. and Dr. T. B. Twitty,
grandsons, the latter residing at the old homestead.

t MS. pension statement of Colonel Graham, and MS. correspondence of Hon. W. J.
T. Miller, William L. Twitty, and Dr. T. B. Twitty.

AND ITS HEROES. 147

to a safer distance, and finally retired with their disabled
comrades.*

Colonel Ferguson encamped awhile at Gilbert Town,
some three miles north of the present village of Rutherford-
ton. For many miles around people wended their way to
the head-quarters of this noted representative of the British
crown ; thinking, as Charleston had fallen, Gates been
defeated, Sumter surprised and dispersed, and the various
detachments lately in force in the Spartanburg region were
disbanded or scattered, that the Whig cause was now utterly
prostrate and hopeless. Many of those who now took the
oath of allegiance to the British Government, subsequently
excused their conduct on the plea that the country was over-
run, and that this was the only course by which they could
save their property, secure themselves and families from
molestation, and at the same time preserve the stock of the
country for the supply of the needy patriots thereafter.

While in this mountain region, Ferguson found he had
a case of small-pox developing itself. It was one of his
officers, who was left in a deserted house, taking his favor-
ite charger with him. And there the poor fellow died in
this lonely situation ; and it is said his neglected horse
lingered around till he at length died also. It was a long
time before any of the country people would venture to
visit the solitary pest-house —

'•And there lay the rider, distorted and pale,
With the dew on his brow and the rust on his mail."

Finally some one ventured there and carried off the sword,
holsters, and pistols, selling them to John Ramsour, who
gave them, nearly thirty years after, to Michael Reinhardt. f
Ferguson led a detachment to surprise Colonel McDow-
ell at the head of Cane creek. An engagement took place
with McDowell's troops, who had been beating about the

*MS. statement of W. M. Reinhardt, Esq., of Lincolnton, North Carolina, who many
years ago had the facts from Reep himself.

fMS. statement of W. M. Reinhardt, son of Michael, who yet preserves these relics
of a century ago.

148 KING 'S MO UNTAIN

mountain country, since retiring from Smith's Ford on
Broad river, and were now retreating towards the Watauga
in East Tennessee. The British force encamped at the noted
White Oak Spring, a mile and a half east of the present
village of Brindletown, in the south-eastern part of Burke
County as now constituted, and on the direct road from
Morganton to Gilbert Town. McDowell learning their
position, and too weak to meet the enemy on anything like
equal terms, concluded to waylay them on renewing their
southward march. He, therefore, selected a fitting spot for
an ambuscade at Bedford's Hill, some three miles south-
west of Brindletown, in the south-eastern corner of
McDowell County, and something like fifteen miles from
Gilbert Town. This hill was a small round elevation about
a quarter of a mile from the base of the South Mountains
then covered with timber ana surrounded by a soft swamp ;
located on the eastern side, and just below, the Upper
Crossing of Cane creek, now known as Cowan's Ford —
which ford the hill commanded. If forced to retire, the
Whigs had an easy access to the mountains close by, where
they would be safe against almost any force that the enemy
could send against them.

Here McDowell's party awaited the coming of the British
force, and, as they were passing the ford, an indecisive fight
transpired. The enemy, after receiving the unexpected
fire of McDowell's backwoodsmen, rallied, and beat back
the Americans, killing, among others, one Scott, of Burke
County, while standing beside the late James Murphy, of
that region. By the heroic efforts especially of Major
Joseph McDowell— the Colonel's brother, Captain Thomas
Kennedy, and one McKay, the Whigs were again brought
into action. Major McDowell was particularly active,
swearing roundly that he would never yield, nor should his
Burke boys— appealing to them to stand by and die with
him, if need be. By their united bravery and good bush-
whacking management, in which their real wksfeedness was

AND ITS HEROES. 149

concealed, and by their activity and well directed rifle-shots
they succeeded in inflicting considerable execution on their
antagonists — killing several, and, among others, wounding
Major Dunlap. The British now retired to Gilbert Town,
conveying their disabled commander with them, who was
severely wounded in the leg ; while McDowell's party,
numbering about one hundred and sixty only, directed their
retreat up the Catawba valley, and over the mountains,
for the friendly Watauga settlements.

Quite a number of human bones were brought to light,
some forty years ago, at the point where this Cane creek
fight occurred — the remains of the British and Tories who
fell in this spirited contest. This action occurred, according
to Lieutenant Allaire's MS. Diary, on the twelfth of Sep-
tember ; and had its influence, as the sequel will show, in
rousing the people over the mountains, as well as in Wilkes
and Surry, to embody under their gallant leaders, and strike
a decisive blow against the bold invader, Ferguson.*

It has been stated, near the close of the chapter on the
Musgrove's Mill expedition, that Shelby and his associates
on that service had agreed, that as soon as they could col-
lect the necessary force, they would embody their severed
detachments, and attack Ferguson. It was correctly antici-
pated that so soon as that British leader and his forces
should exhaust the beef supply in the Spartanburg region,
he would be quite certain to advance into Rutherford and
Burke Counties, in North Carolina, where, in the latter
especially, there were large stocks of fine cattle ; and it was

*MS. letter of Colonel Isaac T. Avery, October 19th, i860, to Hon. D. L. Swain; MS.
pension statements of General Thomas Kennedy, Colonel William Graham, James Blair,
William Walker, and Matthew Kuykendall; General Lenoir's Account 0/ King s Mountain.
appended to this volume; MS. correspondence of Colonel S. McDowell Tate, ofMorganton ;
T. A. Lewis, of Brindletown; M. O. Dickerson and A D. K. Wallace, of Rutherfordton,
North Carolina; the venerable Andrew B. Long, of Rutherford County, whose father, at
the time of this action a boy of ten years, resided on Cane creek ; and Wm. L. and Dr.
T. B. Twitty also of Rutherford County.

Lieutenant Allaire's Diary not only supplies the date of this little engagement, but
serves to corroborate the tradition of the country, that McDowell's men were drawn up
•'on an eminence" — Bedford's Hill apparently; that, according to this account, the Whigs
were worsted, losing one private killed, Captain White wounded, seventeen prisoners, and
twenty pounds of powder while the British had one killed, and two wounded — Captain
Dunlap, one of them, receiving two wounds.

150 KING 'S MO UN TAIN

enjoined on Colonel Charles McDowell, to devise the best
means possible to preserve these stocks from the grasp of
the British and Tories.

Colonel McDowell called the leading men of the Upper
Catawba valley together, and suggested, simply to meet the
present emergency, that they should repair to Gilbert Town,
take British protection, and thereby save the Whig stock,
so necessary for the support of the country, from being
appropriated by the enemy ; that no man would thereby
become a Tory at heart, but would merely exercise a wise
stroke of public policy — that the end would justify the
means and render the country a good service. Daniel
Smith, afterwards Colonel, Captains Thomas Lytle and
Thomas Hemphill, Robert Patton, and John McDowell, of
Pleasant Garden — better known as Hunting John McDowell
— absolutely refused to engage in any such course, and
stated that they would drive all the stock they could collect
into the deep coves at the base of the Black Mountain ; that
others might, if they would, take protection and save the
remainder that could not be readily collected and concealed.
Captain John Carson, a distinguished Indian fighter, after-
wards known as Colonel Carson, Benjamin and William
Davidson, and others, were designated to take protection,
and thus save many valuable herds of cattle from the grasp
of the enemy.* It was a very ungracious act on their part ;
but Carson and his associates deemed it justifiable under
the circumstances — suggested and urged, as it was, by
Colonel McDowell, in behalf of the Whig cause. While
they accomplished the object they had in view, their
motives, in the course of time, were unjustly misjudged
and impugned. f

*MS. statements of General Joseph McDowell and Colonel David Vance, made in 1797,
and preserved by the late Hon. Robert Henry — all participants in the King's Mountain
campaign.

f Hon. Samuel P. Carson, a distinguished member of Congress, and son of Colonel Car-
son, resented an aspersion on his venerable father's character, when charged with having
been a Tory, which resulted in an unfortunate duel, and the death of his antagonist.

AND ITS HEROES. 151

As had been anticipated by the patriots, Ferguson, either
in full force, or with a strong detachment, penetrated into
the very heart of Burke County — as far as Davidson's
" Old Fort," in the extreme western part of then Burke,
now McDowell county ; * and a few miles farther north, up
the Catawba Valley, as far as the old Edmondson place,
since McEntyre's, on Buck creek at the foot of the Blue
Ridge. On their way thither, the British force was supplied
with beef, corn, and other necessaries, by one Wilson, an
Irishman, who afterwards migrated to Tennessee, and for
which he received a draft on the British Government from
which, probably, he never received any avails, f

While in the region of Old Fort, a detachment of the
enemy, under the command, it is believed, of Col. Fergu-
son, concluded to pay a visit to Captain Thomas Lytle, a
noted Whig leader, who resided some four miles south-west
of that locality on Crooked creek. Mrs. Lytle, a spirited
woman, heard of this intended visitation a little in advance
of the approach of the party, and concluded she would
don her nice new gown and beaver hat, in procuring which
for his young wife, Captain Lytle had spent nearly all his
Continental money. It was pardonable of Mrs. Lytle to
make this display, for there were no meetings or public
gatherings, in that frontier mountain region, in those troub-
lous times, where she could appear in her gaudy array of
new finery. She naturally felt a secret satisfaction, as her
husband was not in the way of danger, that this occasion
had presented itself, in which she could gratify the feelings
of a woman's pride in making what she regarded as an
uncommonly attractive appearance. She took unusual
pains in making up her toilet ; for though she was no Tory,
she yet supposed that Colonel Ferguson was a gentleman,
as well as a prominent British officer.

*MS. Correspondence of Colonel Silas McDowell.

+ MS. letter of Colonel Isaac T. Avery, November 2d, i860, on authority of Major Ben
Burgin, whose memory went back to the Revolution.

152 KING 'S MO UNTAIN

At length, the Colonel, at the head of his squadron, leis-
urely rode up toward the house. He halted in front of the
door, and inquired if he could have the pleasure of a few
moments' conversation with Captain Lytle? Mrs. Lytle
stepped to the door in full costume — probably the best
dressed lady the Colonel had seen since he left Charles-
ton— and dropping him a polite courtesy, in accordance
with the fashion of that day, invited him to alight and
come in. He thanked her, but his business, he said,
required haste ; that the King's army had restored his
authority in all the Southern Provinces, and that the rebel-
lion was virtually quelled ; that he had come up the Valley
to see Captains Lytle and Hemphill, and a few others, who
had served in the Rebel army against the King, and that
he was the bearer of pardons for each of them.

"My husband," Mrs. Lytle replied, " is from home."

"Madame," inquired the Colonel, earnestly, "do you
know where he is ? "

" To be candid with you, Colonel," said Mrs. Lytle, " I
really do not ; I only know that he is out with others of his
friends whom you call Rebels."

" Well, madame," replied Ferguson, deprecatingly, " I
have discharged my duty ; I felt anxious to save Captain
Lytle, because I learn that he is both brave and honorable.
If he persists in rebellion, and comes to harm, his blood
be upon his own head."

"Colonel Ferguson," she responded, thoughtfully but
firmly, " I don't know how this war may end ; it is not un-
unlikely that my husband may fall in battle ; all I positively
know is, that he will never prove a traitor to his country."

" Mrs. Lytle," said the Colonel, patronizingly, "I admire
you as the handsomest woman I have seen in North Caro-
lina— I even half way admire your zeal in a bad cause ;
but, take my word for it, the rebellion has had its day, and
is now virtually put down. Give my kind regards to Cap-
tain Lytle, and tell him to come in. He will not be asked

AND ITS HEROES. 153

to compromise his honor ; his verbal pledge not again to
take up arms against the King, is all that will be asked of
him." He then bowed to Mrs. Lytle, and led off his
troop. A straggler in the rear rode back, and taking off
his old slouched hat, made her a low" bow, and with his left
hand lifted her splendid beaver from her head, replacing it
with his wretched apology, observing with mock gravity,
44 Mrs. Lytle, I can not leave so handsome a lady without
something by which to remember you." As he rode off,
she hallooed after him : "You'll bite the dust for that, you
villain ! " Thus Mrs. Lytle momentarily enjoyed the occa-
sion of arraying herself in her best ; but, as she afterwards
confessed, she paid dearly for the gratification of her pride,
and long mourned the loss of her beautiful beaver hat.*

Colonel McDowell had completely outwitted Ferguson
and his plundering Tory followers ; and the hungry horde,
who invaded the Upper Catawba Valley with high hopes
and expectations, returned to their camps near Gilbert
Town without any beef cattle as a recompense for all their
toils and troubles.

After the affair at Cane creek, and the final retirement
beyond the mountains of the last remnant of embodied
Whig forces in the western region of the Carolinas, Fergu-
son thought the matter decided. When William Green
rode up with a troop of cavalry, and tendered his and their
services for the defense of the King's cause, Ferguson
thanked them for their loyalty ; but declined their accept-
ance, as the country was subdued, and everything wras quiet.

It was reported to Colonel Ferguson, that Jonathan
Hampton, a son of Colonel Andrew Hampton, residing in
the vicinity of Gilbert Town, held the King's authority in

* MS. correspondence with the late Colonel Silas McDowell, of Macon County, North
Carolina, in 1873-74, who had these particulars from Mrs. Lytle herself. Colonel McDowell
thought it was Tarleton who visited Captain Lytle's, but it could not have been, as his
"Campaigns" and map of the route of his excursions show that he was never above
Cowan's Ford on the Catawba, while it is certain that Colonel Ferguson was in Burke
County. Captain Lytle died not very far from 1832, at the age of about eighty-three years ;
and his venerable companion gently passed away about the same time.

154 KING ' S MO UNTAIN

great contempt ; that he had the hardihood to accept a com-
mission of Justice of the Peace from the Rebel Government
of North Carolina, and had, only recently, ventured, by
virtue of that instrument, to unite Thomas Fleming and
a neighboring young lady in the holy bonds of wedlock.
It was a high crime and misdemeanor in British and Tory
eyes. So a party of four or five hundred men were dis-
patched, under Majors Plummer and Lee, to visit the
Hampton settlement, four or five miles south-west of Gil-
bert Town, to apprehend young Hampton, and possibly
entrap his father at the same time. But the Colonel had
left the day before, and re-united with McDowell's forces.
Riding up to young Hampton's cabin, they found him sit-
ting at the door, fastening on his leggings, and getting
himself in readiness to follow his father to the Whig camp
in some secluded locality in the mountain coves of that
region.

At this moment, James Miller, and Andrew and David
Dickey, three Whig friends, came within hailing distance,
and hallooed: "Jonathan, are those men in the yard,
friends or foes ! "

Hampton, without exercising ordinary prudence, re-
plied : " Boys, whoever you are, they are d — d Red Coats
and Tories — clear yourselves ! "

As they started to run, the Tories fired two or three vol-
leys at them ; but they fortunately escaped unhurt. Per-
haps Hampton presumed somewhat upon his partially
crippled condition that forbearance would be shown him,
for he was reel-footed ; yet he managed to perform many a
good service for his country, and, as in this case, would
lose sight of self, when he could hope to benefit his friends.
Mrs. Hampton chided him for his imprudence, saying:
44 Why, Jonathan, you are the most unguarded man I ever
saw."

The Tory party cursed him soundly for a d — d Rebel,
and Major Lee knocked him down, and tried to ride over

AND ITS HEROES. 155

him, but his horse jumped clear over his body without
touching him. Lee had just before appropriated Hamp-
ton's horse as better than his own, and it may be that the
animal recognized his master, and declined to be a party
to his injury. While Major Plummer was courteous and
considerate, Major Lee was rude and unfeeling in the
extreme. Hampton, and his wife's brother, Jacob Hyder,
were made prisoners ; and those who had Hampton in
charge, swore that they would hang him on the spot, and
began to uncord his bed for a rope for the purpose, when
Mrs. Hampton ran to Major Plummer with the alarm, and
he promptly interposed to prevent the threatened execution.
Some of the disappointed Tories, who thirsted for his
blood, declared in his presence, that Ferguson would put
so notorious a Rebel to death the moment he laid eyes on
him. Major Plummer informed Hampton if he could
give security for his appearance the next day at Gilbert
Town, he might remain over night at home. He tried
several Loyalists whom he knew, but they declined ; and
finally Major Plummer himself offered to be his security.
According to appointment, the next day Hampton pre-
sented himself to Ferguson, at Gilbert Town, who pro-
ceeded to examine his case. When asked his name, he
frankly told him, adding, that, though in the power of his
enemies, he would never deny the honored name of Hamp-
ton. Major Dunlap, then on crutches, entering the room,
inquired of Colonel Ferguson the name of the Rebel
on trial? " Hampton," replied Ferguson. This seemed to
rouse Dunlap's ire, who repeated thoughtfully: " Hamp-
ton— Hampton — that's the name of a d — d fine-looking
young Rebel I killed a while since, on the head of Paco-
let," referring to the affair at Earle's Ford, when Noah
Hampton, a brother of the prisoner, was murdered in cold
blood. Dunlap added: "Yes; I now begin to recall
something of this fellow ; and though a cripple, he has done
more harm to the Royal cause than ten fighting men ; he is

156 KING yS MO UN TAIN

one of the d — dest Rebels in all the country, and ought to
be strung up at once, without fear or favor."

Jonathan Hampton had, indeed, been an unwearied
friend of the Whig cause. He was a good talker ; he kept
up the spirits of the people, and helped to rally the men
when needed for military service. Even in his crippled
condition, he would cheerfully lend a helping hand in stand-
ing guard ; and, when apprehended, was about abandoning
his home to join his father and McDowell in their flight to
Watauga. But Ferguson was more prudent and humane
than Dunlap, and dismissed, both Hampton and Hyder on
their parole. Hampton observed when Ferguson wrote the
paroles, he did so with his left hand ; for, it will be remem-
bered, his right arm had been badly shattered at Brandy wine,
the use of which he had never recovered. Hyder tore up
his parole, shortly after leaving Ferguson's presence ; but
Hampton retained his as long as he lived, but never had
occasion to use it, as Ferguson shortly after retired to
King's Mountain, and the region of Gilbert Town wras
never after invaded by a British force.*

Major James Dunlap, who figured so prominently in the
military operations in Spartanburg during the summer of
1780, now claims at our hands a further and final notice.
Of his origin, we have no account. He must have been a
man of enterprise, for he was commissioned a Captain in
the Queen's Rangers, a partisan corps, November twenty-
seventh, 1776. This corps had been raised during the sum-
mer and autumn of that year, from native Loyalists, mostly
refugees from Connecticut, and from the vicinity of New

*MS. correspondence of Adam and James J. Hampton, sons of Jonathan Hampton, in
l873-74: MS. letter of Colonel Isaac T. Avery, October 19th, i860; and MS. letter of Colo-
nel Silas McDowell, July 13th, 1873.

This sterling patriot, Jonathan Hampton, was born on Dutchman's creek, Lincoln
County, near the Catawba river, North Carolina, in 1751; and when nearly grown, he
removed with his father, and settled on Mountain creek, four or live miles south-west of
Gilbert Town. He was many years clerk of the Rutherford court, and five years repre-
sented the County in the State Senate in the early part of the present century. He died
at Gilbert Town, October 3d 1843, at tne venerable age of ninety-two years. Of his large
family, but one son survives — Jonathan Hampton, Jr., now eighty-five years of age.

AND ITS HEROES. 157

York, by Colonel Robert Rogers, who had distinguished
himself with a corps of Rangers on the frontiers of New
York and Canada, during the French and Indian war of
1755-60. The month before Dunlap had become a Captain
in the corps, Rogers had been surprised at Mamoroneck,
on Long Island Sound, losing nearly eighty killed and cap-
tured, together with sixty stand of arms.*

Such was the daring and good service of the Queen's
Rangers at Brandy wine, September eleventh, 1777, that
the British Commander-in-chief particularly complimented
them "for their spirited and gallant behavior in the engage-
ment," f in which they suffered severely. The ensuing
year they shared in the operations around Philadelphia,
and in New Jersey. In the affair at Hancock's House,
near Salem, New Jersey, on the night of the twentieth of
March, 1778, Captain Dunlap bore a prominent part. The
order was a most sanguinary one: — " Go — spare no one —
■put all to death — give no quarters!''' The house was gar-
risoned by twenty men, under Captain Carleton Sheppard ;
and with them were four Loyalist prisoners — Judge Han-
cock, the owner of the house, and three other Quakers —
one of whom was Charles Fogg, "a very aged man." All
were asleep, and the work of death by the sword and bayo-
net was quick and terrible. Some accounts represent that
all, others two-thirds, of the occupants, garrison and prison-
ers, were horribly mangled by Dunlap and his fiendish as-
sociates— among them were Judge Hancock and some of
his Quaker brethren. Simcoe, of the Rangers, speaks of
this undesigned destruction of their friends as "among the
real miseries of war," though he had no tears to shed for
the score or two of patriots who fell without resistance.]:

Dunlap and the Queen's Rangers shared in the British
retreat from Philadelphia to New York, and in the battle of

* Lossing's Field Book of the Revolution, ii, 615.
t Simcoe' 's Journal, 319.

J Johnson's History of Salem New Jersey; Barber and Howe's Historical Collections
of New Jersey, 426-^8; Lossing's Field Rook, ii, 139; Simcoe's Journal, 51-52.

158 KING !S MO UNTAIN

Monmouth, in June, 1778. On the thirty-first of August
ensuing, the Rangers participated in a bloody affair near
King's Bridge, on the Hudson. A party of Americans and
friendly Stockbridge Indians were drawn into an ambus-
cade, which resulted in the loss of nearly forty — fully twenty
of whom were Indians, either killed or desperately woun-
ded, and among the slain were Ninham, their chief, and his
son of the same name.* The following year, besides some
garrison duty at Ctyster Bay, the Rangers served on forag-
ing and scouting parties, during which they encountered
some occasional skirmishing. In one of these forays, at
Brunswick, New Jersey, they were unexpectedly fired upon
by the Americans in ambush ; and among other casualties,
their commander, Lieutenant-Colonel Simcoe, was taken
prisoner. Sir Henry Clinton, early in 1780, declared that
the history of the corps had been a "series of gallant, skil-
ful, and successful enterprises against the enemy, without a
reverse, and have killed and taken twice their own num-
bers."!

Such were the services of the Queen's Rangers, and the
experience of Captain Dunlap, prior to his engaging in the
expedition against Charleston, in December, 1779. He
would seem to have been one of the picked officers of Colo-
nel Ferguson, for his select partisan corps for this new
enterprise. Dunlap shared in the siege and capture of
Charleston, doubtless in the same operations, as described
in a previous chapter, in which Ferguson's corps was
engaged, and was sent to the western borders of South
Carolina, under Ferguson, immediately after the fall of
Charleston. His attack on McDowell's force at Earle's
Ford, on North Pacolet, and the affair near Cedar Spring
and Wofford's Iron Works, together with the engagement
at Cane creek, where he was severely wounded, have
already been related.

■•■ Continental Journal, September 17th, 1778; Simcoe's Military Journal, 83-86, and
accompanying diagram; Massacre of the Stockbridge Indians, by Thomas F. De Voe, in
Magazine of American History, September, 1880.

f Simcoe's Journal, introductory memoir, x.

AND ITS HEROES. 159

Major Dunlap has left behind him an unenviable, repu-
tation. The bloody work he performed at the Hancock
House, and his share in the destruction of Ninham and his
Stockbridge warriors, would appear to have been in the
line of his taste and character. "He had," says Judge
Johnson, in his Life of Greene, "rendered himself infamous
by his barbarity." "His seventies," said Major James
Sevier, one of the King's Mountain men, "incensed the
people against him." It is certain he was an advocate for
hanging Whigs for no other crime than sympathizing with
their suffering country ; his brutal language to this effect,
in the presence of, and concerning Jonathan Hampton, must
be fresh in the reader's remembrance. That such a man,
characterized by such practices, should, sooner or later,
come to an untimely end, is neither strange nor unexpected.

Snuffing the approaching storm, Ferguson suddenly
abandoned his camp at Gilbert Town to avoid the approach
of the over-mountain men. Dunlap, upon his crutches, and
in such a hurried retreat, was in no condition to accompany
the retiring forces. William Gilbert, with whom he was
stopping while recovering from his wound, was a loyal
friend of King George ; and while he himself seems to have
gone off with Ferguson, Mrs. Gilbert and the family re-
mained to take proper care of the invalid. A soldier of the
name of Coates was left to wait upon him, but who, not
long after, provoking the mortal ire of a negro of Gilbert's,
was killed by him, and his remains consumed in a coal-pit.

This event of ill-omen was speedily followed by an almost
tragic occurrence. The avenger of blood was nigh. Two
or three men from Spartanburg rode to the door of the Gil-
bert house, shortly after Ferguson had commenced his
retreat for King's Mountain, when the leader, Captain Gil-
lespie, asked Mrs. Gilbert if Major Dunlap was not up
stairs? She frankly replied that he was, probably supposing
that the party were Loyalists, and had some important com-
munication for him. They soon disabused her of their

1 60 KING S MO UNTAIN

character and mission, for they declared that he had been
instrumental in putting some of their friends to death, and,
moreover, had abducted the beautiful Mary McRea, the affi-
anced of Captain Gillespie, as she would not encourage his
amorous advances, and kept her in confinement, trusting
that she would in time yield to his wishes ; but death came
to her relief, she probably dying broken-hearted. They
had now come for revenge ; Gillespie, particularly, uttering
his imprecations on the head of the cruel destroyer of all
his earthly hopes. So saying, they mounted the stairs,
when Gillespie abruptly approached Dunlap, as he lay in
bed, with the inquiry: "Where is Mary McRea?" "In
heaven," was the reply; whereupon the injured Captain
shot him through the body ; and quickly remounting their
horses, Gillespie and his associates bounded away towards
their Spartanburg homes. This is the tradition, sifted and
collated, as preserved in the Hampton family.*

Colonel Silas McDowell, who visited his old friend, Jona-
than Hampton, in 183 1, heard him relate the story of Dun-
lap being shot, but could only recall the main fact, that the
perpetrator of the act, some friend of Noah Hampton, whom
Dunlap had boasted of slaying, had rushed to the Major's
up-stairs room, and shot him through the body as he lay on
his couch. M. O. Dickerson, Esq., of Rutherfordton, has
had substantially the same relation from Mr. Hampton.
The old Gilbert house was then standing, and Hampton
pointed out to both these visitors the stain of Dunlap's blood
still discernible upon the floor ; and there are others, still
living, who have seen it also. This venerable building,
in which the* early courts of the County were held, when
about to fall from age, was taken down some four or five
years since, by its present owner, J. A. Forney, Esq., who

*MS. correspondence with the late venerable Adam and James J. Hampton, in 1873-
74; and the present venerable Jonathan Hampton, in 1880, sons of the patriot, Jonathan
Hampton. Sr.

M. O. Dickerson states that it has been handed down as the opinion of some of the old
people of that region, that Mrs. Gilbert and her son made way with the unfortunate Major
Dunlap ; but this seems to have been a cruel and baseless suspicion.

<
W

*#£**»"

AND ITS HEROES. 161

has preserved the blood-stained floor-plank. While these
traditions differ somewhat in their details, all having a com-
mon origin from the old patriarch, Jonathan Hampton, Sr.,
they all agree in the general conclusion, that Dunlap was
shot in retaliation for alleged cruelties — either in killing
Whigs, or abducting Miss McRea, or both ; and all coin-
cide in the belief, that the redoubtable Major was killed
outright, and buried about three hundred yards south of the
Gilbert house, the grave being still pointed out, marked by
a granite rock at the head and foot.*

Major James Holland lived at Gilbert Town for many
years, and was a prominent character. In 1783, he repre-
sented Rutherford County in the State Senate ; in 1786 and
1789, he was in the House of Commons, and served a term
in Congress from 1795 to 1797. In this latter year, he was
again chosen to a seat in the State Senate, and then served
five consecutive terms in Congress, from 1801 until 18 it.
The late venerable Adam Hampton wrote in 1873 : "I will
relate to you what I heard Major James Holland say in
reference to Major Dunlap's grave. He said that in 1809,
while serving as a member of Congress at Washington, he
dreamed that a quantity of gold was buried with Dunlap,
and, on his return home, he opened the grave, and found
sixty-one guineas."

From all these traditions and relations, it would ordi-
narily be concluded, that Dunlap assuredly died of the
wound inflicted by Captain Gillespie. It is quite clear,
however, that he did not. We can only suppose that, when
shot, he was left unconscious, or feigned death ; and when
Gillespie's party departed, it was reported, for his safety,
that he was killed and buried near by ; and it is possible,
that the Major may have had his servant, Coates, secrete
his money there before the latter was murdered by the
negro. Though in a Tory region, it would not have been

*MS. letters of Adam, James J., and Jonathan Hampton, Jr., and M. O. Dickerson,
W. L. and Dr. T. B. Twitty, and Miss N. M. McDowell.
11

162 KING'S MO UNTAIN

safe to have had it known that Dunlap was still alive ; for
Gillespie, or others, would surely have come to make the
work of death more certain next time. He was too feeble,
with this additional wound, to be removed at once to Ninety
Six — the nearest British fort, after Cornwallis had fled from
Charlotte ; and it was fully ninety miles from Gilbert Town
to Ninety Six, in a direct course, and considerably more by
such by-ways as it would have been necessary to pursue, in
order to avoid the intervening Whig settlements. Hence
the necessity of circulating this report of his death, which
must have been well kept, and which the Hampton family
fully credited, and which Major James Sevier corroborated,
in a general way, to the writer, in 1844, by asserting, that
for his cruelties, Dunlap had been killed by a party of
Whigs at Gilbert Town. But as Major Sevier made no
mention of having heard anything concerning Dunlap on
the night of the third of October, when he and his fellow-
mountaineers were at Gilbert Town, the wounded Major
must, at that time, have been secreted somewhere in the
neighboring hills or fastnesses for safety. And even after
the war, as Gilbert was well known, and had figured some-
what in public life, he may have deemed it good policy to
refrain from revealing the fact that he or his family had so
long concealed Dunlap, and perhaps secretly aided him in
effecting his escape to Ninety Six.

As soon as he was able to ride, it would seem, he was
conveyed to Ninety Six ; and if any gold had been buried
by Coates in his behalf, near by, for safe keeping, Major
Dunlap must have been unable to find it, for had the Gil-
berts secreted it for him, they would have known the place
of its concealment. We find him at Ninety Six, in March,
1 781, and sufficiently recovered for active service. He was
sent with a party of seventy-six dragoons on a foraging
expedition. Receiving intelligence of this plundering ma-
raud, General Pickens detached Colonel Clarke and Major
McCall with a sufficient force to attack him. On the

AND ITS HEROES. 163

twenty-fourth of March, they came up with him encamped
at Beattie's Mill, on Little river, some twenty-two miles
from Ninety Six. Dispatching a party to take possession
of a bridge over which Dunlap would necessarily pass on
his return, the main body advanced and took him by sur-
prise. He retired into the mill and some neighboring out-
houses, but which were too open for protection against rifle-
men. "Recollecting," as the historian, McCall, asserts,
" his outrageous conduct to the families and friends of those
by whom he was attacked, Dunlap resisted for several hours,
until thirty-four of his men were killed and wounded— him-
self among the latter — when a flag was hung out, and they
surrendered," else all would have been sooner or later
picked oft' by Clarke's and McCall's unerring riflemen.
In General Pickens' report, as published by Congress, the
number is stated as thirty-four of the enemy killed, and
forty-two taken ; so the wounded must have been included
among the captives. The prisoners were sent to Watauga
settlement, in East Tennessee, for safe keeping.

"The British account of this affair," adds McCall,
"stated that Dunlap was murdered by the guard having
him in charge, after his surrender ; but such was not the
fact — for he died of his wounds the ensuing night." It is
evident from General Greene's general order of the subse-
quent sixteenth of April, that Dunlap was taken prisoner,
and nothing could have been said in Pickens' first report of
the action relative to the Major's death ; hence it could
hardly have occurred so soon after his surrender as McCall
states. But McCall errs in supposing that Dunlap was not
killed by his guard, or by some one with their connivance.
It was covered up, as much as possible, by those who per-
petrated the act ; but General Pickens, whose high sense of
honor revolted against such turpitude, even against an offi-
cer of Dunlap's infamous character, "offered a hand-
some reward for the murderers," as General Greene sub-
sequently testifies in a letter to the British Colonel Balfour,

164 KING 'S MO UNTAIN

accompanied with a copy of Pickens' order proclaiming
the reward.

Thus wretchedly perished, at the hands of his enemies,
Major James Dunlap. While the manner of his taking off
is to be regretted, it must be confessed that he had little
reason to expect better treatment. He had led a life of
military savagery, and his "outrageous conduct" to the
families of Clarke's and McCall's men, was perfectly in
keeping with his previous actions, and very naturally pro-
voked the retaliation of those whom he had so grievously
wronged.*

His rank was Captain in the Queen's Rangers, and ap-
parently Major in the special service to which he was
assigned in Ferguson's corps. As the commission of his
successor in the Rangers — Bennet Walpole — bore date
March twenty-ninth, 1781, that very likely fixes the time of
Dunlap's death. His name last appears in the Royal Army
List, published in New York in 1781, which was probably
issued before his death in March had been learned. Had
he been killed in the preceding October at Gilbert Town,
his name would doubtless have disappeared, and that of his
successor taken its place. It is certain that Dunlap belonged
to the Queen's Rangers, and there was no other person of
his name and rank either in the Rangers or any other Pro-
vincial corps ; so it is not possible that there could have
been two Major Dunlaps killed — one at Gilbert Town, and
the other at or near Beattie's Mill.

* Maryland Journal, May ist and 8th, 1781 ; Massachusetts Spy, June 14th, 1781 ; Mc-
Call's Georgia, ii, 361; Gordon's Am. Rev., iv, 167; Johnson's Life of Greene, ii. 107, 135,
195; Gibbes' Doc. History, 1781-82, 169; Greene's Greene, iii, 232; MS. pension statements
of Absalom Thompson and Joel Darcy.

McCall gives the date of the affair at Beattie's Mill as March 21st; but Pickens' report,
as published by Congress, says it occurred on the 24th of that month, and his authority
would seem to be most reliable.

Credit is due to Charles R. Hildeburn, Esq., of Philadelphia, for the christian name of
Major Dunlap, with the date of his commission in the Rangers, and that of his successor.
Mr. Hildeburn has given special attention to the leaders in the Loyalist corps, and learned
the facts in question from the rare Royal Army Lists, published in New York from 1777 to
1783-

AND ITS HEROES. 165

CHAPTER IX.

July— October, 1780.

Gathering of the King's Mountain Clans. — Williams'' failure to get com-
mand of Sumter s men — his tricky treatment of Sumter. — Fergu-
son sends a threat to the over-mountain men. — Shelby s patriotic
efforts to turn the scales on Ferguson. — Sevier, McDowell, Hamp-
ton, and Campbell unite i?i the Enterprise — Cleveland invited to
join them. — Sevier's success in providing Supplies for the Expedition.
— Rendezvous at the Sycamore Shoals. — Preparations for the March.
— Parson Doak commends the men to the protection of the Good
Father. — Their March over the mountains. — Joined by Cleveland
and Winston. — Campbell chosen to the Chief Command. — Mc-
Dowell's mission for a General Officer.

Colonel Williams, as we have seen, was honored by
Governor Rutledge, in September, with a commission of
Brigadier-General in the South Carolina militia, in recog
nition of his having been, as the Governor was led to
believe, the chief commander of the Whigs at the battle of
Musgrove's Mill. Governor Nash, of North Carolina, had
given him permission to recruit, within that State, not to
exceed a hundred horsemen. With his commission in his
pocket, he at once repaired to Sumter's camp, on the
Catawba Reservation, east of the river of that name. He
had it publicly read, and then ordered the officers and men
to recognize his right to command them, declaring that
Sumter had no proper authority to do so.

Here a serious difficulty arose. At this period, Sumter
bore the title and performed the office of a General ; but
he had, in fact, no commission. He had been chosen by
his own men, who, forced to leave their homes, had banded
together for their mutual safety, and the better, as occasion
should offer, to strike an effective blow at an insolent enemy.

166 KING 'S MO UNTAIN

Thus gathered together, acting pretty much on their own
volition, rather than by any special authority, they chose
Sumter their leader, which they believed they had a perfect
right to do, as South Carolina, in its then inchoate con-
dition, was unable to grant them any pay, or furnish them
supplies of any kind. Governor Rutledge, for safety, had
retired to North Carolina.

But they had another reason why they declined to recog-
nize Williams as their commander. They cherished an old
grudge against him. While Sumter was organizing his
force, in the early summer, on Clem's Branch of Sugar
creek, east of the Catawba, Williams and some of his
neighbors of the Little river region, had retired to the
northward with such of their moveable property as they
could convey to a place of safety till more quiet times-—
probably to Granville County, North Carolina, where the
Colonel had formerly lived, and where he had family
relations still residing. On his return, he repaired to Sum-
ter's camp, and frankly confessed, as he had brought no
men, he could claim no command ; but he, nevertheless,
wished to serve his country in some position of usefulness.
Colonel Hill, who knew him, suggested that General Sum-
ter needed an efficient Commissary ; and upon mentioning
the matter to the General, he accordingly commissioned
Williams to serve in that capacity.

Major Charles Miles, with twenty-five men and four
teams and wagons, was assigned to this service under
Colonel Williams. So matters went along smoothly
enough, and satisfactorily to all concerned, to all outward
appearances, till after the battle of Hanging Rock, on the
sixth of August. While Sumter was encamped on Cane
creek, in Lancaster District, one morning, about the
twelfth of that month, it was discovered that Williams had
decamped, without dropping a hint to Sumter on the sub-
ject, taking with him Colonel Brandon and a small party
of followers, mostly of the Fair Forest region, together

AND ITS HEROES. 167

with a number of public horses, and considerable provisions
and camp equipage.

Sumter and his subordinates were not a little vexed at
this treatment. As they regarded it, Williams had been
not only ungrateful for the position conferred upon him,
but had betrayed a public trust. Colonel Lacey, one of
Sumter's best officers, a man of much personal prowess,
was dispatched, with a small guard, in pursuit of the
fugitives, with a view at least of recovering the public
property. He overtook them encamped on the west side
of the Catawba, but finding Williams' party too strong to
attempt coercive measures, Lacey resorted to other means
to accomplish his purpose. Inviting Williams to take a
walk with him, he suddenly, when out of reach of the
camp, presented a pistol at his breast, threatening him with
instant death if he should make the least noise, or call for
assistance. With his pistol still aimed, Lacey expostu-
lated with him on the baseness of his conduct, when Wil-
liams pledged his word and honor that he would take back
all the public property, and as many of the men as he could
prevail upon to return with him. Not confiding in his word,
Lacey exacted an oath to the same purpose, with which
Williams readily complied. But once free from restraint,
he neither regarded the one nor the other, but retired to
Smith's Ford, on Broad river, where he joined Colonel Mc-
Dowell's forces, and participated, immediately thereafter,
in the successful expedition against the enemy at Mus-
grove's Mill. *

During the summer, Sumter had been operating mostly
east of the Catawba. Williams' home was considerably to
the southwest of that stream, and he tried to justify himself,
no doubt, by arguing that his own particular region had
the strongest claim upon his attention, and a man who
would not provide for his own family and people was worse
than an infidel. However this may be, there can be no good

*The details of this affair are taken from Colonel Wm. Hill's MS. narrative.

168 KING 'S MO UNTAIN

excuse for his conduct. He should have sought a more
manly and honorable way of effecting his object, as Colonel
Clarke had done before him.

Sumter, his officers and men, were unanimous in resolv-
ing to have nothing to do with Williams. They regarded
his conduct in leaving the camp as he did the preceding
month, as treacherous, and unbecoming an honorable offi-
cer. Williams, meeting with such a reception — and he
could hardly have expected any other — was not slow to
take his departure. A council of the field officers of Sum-
ter's command was soon after convened, in which it was
judged best to make a full representation to Governor Rut-
ledge of the condition of the brigade, and their reasons for
refusing to accept Williams as their commander. Five
prominent officers were accordingly selected to wait upon
the Governor, at Hillsboro, four of whom were Colonels
Richard Winn, Henry Hampton, John Thomas, Jr., and
Charles S. Myddelton ; Colonel Thomas Taylor was prob-
ably the other. Meanwhile, it was agreed that Sumter
should retire until a decision was reached and the difficulty
settled, Colonels Lacey and Hill to command the troops
during the interim.*

Williams seems to have received some intimation, while
in Sumter's camp, that his conduct would soon be properly
represented to Governor Rutledge ; and having claimed
more with regard to his command at Musgrove's than the
facts would warrant, he probably deemed it best not to lay
his new grievances before the Governor, but repair at once
to the field, and endeavor, by brilliant service, to cause his
past derelictions to be overlooked and forgotten.

It is now necessary to give a succinct account of the
circumstances which led the over-mountain men so soon
again to re-pass the Alleghanies, and appear on their
eastern border. Though separated by high mountains
and broad forests from their brethren of the Carolinas,

* Colonel Hill's MS. narrative.

AND ITS HEROES. 169

they heartily sympathized with them, and were even
ready to aid them in their struggles against the common
enemy. Shelby, the McDowells and their compeers, it
will be remembered, while retiring, in August, before
Ferguson's pursuers, from the Musgrove's Mill expedi-
tion, resolved that as soon as they could have a needed
rest, and strengthen their numbers, they would re-cross the
mountains, and " beard the lion in his den." The summer
heats and exposures had retarded their renewal of the
enterprise ; their crops had doubtless demanded their at-
tention ; and, above all, the neighboring Cherokees were
inimical and threatening. And so they tarried, watching
on the borders.

But a circumstance transpired that tended to arouse
them from their ease and sense of security. When Fer-
guson took post at Gilbert Town, in the early part of Sep-
tember, remembering how the mountain men had annoyed
him and his detachments on the Pacolet, at Thicketty Fort,
near WofTord's iron works, and at Musgrove's, he paroled
Samuel Philips, a distant relative of Colonel Isaac Shelby,
whom he had taken prisoner — perhaps one of the wounded
left at Wofford's or Musgrove's, now recovered — with a
verbal message to the officers on the Western waters of
Watauga, Nolachucky, and Holston, that "if they did not
desist from their opposition to the British arms, he would
march his army over the mountains, hang their leaders,
and lay their country waste with fire and sword."*

This threat accomplished more than Ferguson bargained
for. Philips, residing near Shelby's, went directly to him
with the message, giving him, in addition, such intelligence
as he could impart concerning the strength, locality, and
intentions of the enemy. Of the Loyalists composing the
major part of Ferguson's command, some had previously

* Shelby's King's Mountain Narrative, 1823; Haywood's Hist. Tennessee, 67; Shelby's
statement in the American Whig Revienv, Dec, 1846, 580; General Joseph Graham's
account, in the Southern Literary Messenger, September, 1845.

170 KING'S MO UNTAIN

been on the Western waters, and were familiar with the
Watauga settlements, and the mountain passes by which
they were reached. One of them had been subjected, the
past summer, to the indignity of a coat of tar and feathers,
by the light-horsemen of Captain Robert Sevier, on
Nolachucky ; and, in resentment, proposed to act as
pilot to Ferguson.*

In a few days, Shelby went some forty miles to a horse-
race, near the present village of Jonesboro, to see Colonel
Sevier, the efficient commander of the militia of Washing-
ton County, embracing the Watauga and Nolachucky settle-
ments, to inform him of Ferguson's threatening message,
and concert measures for their mutual action. The result
was that these brave leaders resolved to carry into effect the
plan Shelby and associates had formed the previous month,
when east of the mountains — to raise all the men they
could, and attempt, with proper assistance, to surprise
Ferguson by attacking him in his camp ; or, at any rate,
before he should be prepared to meet them. If this was
not practicable, they would unite with any corps of patriots
they might meet, and wage war against the enemies of
their country ; and should they fail, and the country
eventually be over-run and subdued by the British, they
could take water, float down the Holston, Tennessee, Ohio,
and Mississippi, and find a home among the Spaniards in
Louisiana. It was known to them, that Colonel Charles
McDowell and Colonel Andrew Hampton with about one
hundred and sixty men, had retired before Ferguson's forces
from Cane creek and Upper Catawba, arriving at Colonel
John Carter's on the eighteenth of September, and
were now refugees mostly encamped on the Watauga. f
Some of McDowell's officers were seen and consulted by
Shelby and Sevier before they parted. Colonel Sevier
engaged to see others of them, and bring them all into the

* Ramsey's Tennessee, 223.

•f- MS. letter Colonel Joseph Martin, Long Island of Holston, Sept. 22, 1780.

AND ITS HEROES. 171

measure ; while Shelby, on his pari, undertook to procure
the aid and co-operation of Colonel William Campbell,
of the neighboring County of Washington, in Virginia, with
a force from that region, if practicable. A time and place
for the general rendezvous were appointed — the twenty-
fifth of September, at the Sycamore Flats or Shoals, on
the Watauga.

Colonel Shelby had necessarily much to do in getting
his own regiment of Sullivan County men in readiness
for the expedition. He wrote to Colonel Campbell, who
resided forty miles distant, explaining the nature of the
proposed service, and urging him to join in it with all the
men he could raise for that purpose. The letter was sent
by the Colonel's brother, Captain Moses Shelby. It was
the plan of Lord Cornwallis to lead his army from Char-
lotte to Salisbury, there to form a junction with Ferguson's
corps ; and, preliminary to the further invasion of North
Carolina and Virginia, to incite the Southern Indians not
only to invade the Holston and Watauga settlements, but
proceed, if possible, as high up in South -West Virginia as
Chis well's Lead Mines, and destroy the works and stores
at that place, where large quantities of lead were pro-
duced for the supply of the American armies. And as the
destruction of the Mines and their product was a capital
object with the British, the Tories high up New river, and
in the region of the Lead Mines, had also been encouraged
to make an attempt in that direction. Colonel Campbell
had been diligently engaged, for several weeks, with a
part of his regiment, in suppressing this Tory insurrection,
and had just returned from that service when Colonel
Shelby's letter arrived.

Campbell replied, that he had determined to raise what
men he could, and march down by the Flour Gap, on the
southern borders of Virginia, to be in readiness to oppose
Lord Cornwallis when he should advance from Charlotte,
and approach that State ; that he still thought this the

172 KING 'S MO UNTAIN

better policy, and declined uniting with Sevier and
Shelby on the proposed expedition. Colonel Shelby
promptly notified Colonel Sevier of Campbell's determin-
ation, and at the same time issued an order for all the
militia of Sullivan County to hold themselves in readi-
ness to march at the time appointed. As the Cherokee
towns were not to exceed eighty to one hundred miles from
the frontiers of Sullivan, and much less from the Watauga
settlements ; and as it was known that the Cherokees were
preparing to make a formidable attack on the border people,
in the course of a few weeks, Colonel Shelby felt an
unwillingness to draw off, for a distant service, all the dis-
posable force of the counties of Sullivan and Washington
at so critical a period, and leave hundreds of helpless
families exposed to the tomahawk and scalping-knife.

He, therefore, immediately wrote a second letter to
Colonel Campbell by the same messenger, urging his
views more fully, and stating that without his aid, he
and Sevier could not leave sufficient force to protect their
frontiers, and at the same time lead forth a party strong
enough to cope with Ferguson. About the same time
he wrote also to Colonel Arthur Campbell, the cousin and
brother-in-law of Colonel William Campbell, and who was
the County Lieutenant or superior military officer of the
County, informing him of Ferguson's progress and threats,
and telling the touching story of McDowell's party, driven
from their homes and families ; and appealing to the County
Lieutenant, whether it would not be possible to make an
effort to escort and protect the exiles on their return to their
homes and kindred, and drive Ferguson from the country.
Colonel Arthur Campbell had just returned from Rich-
mond, where he had an interview with Governor Jefferson,
and learned that vigorous efforts were being made to re-
trieve the late misfortunes near Camden, and repel the
advances of the enemy now flushed with victory.

Both Colonels Arthur and William Campbell, on full

AND ITS HEROES. 173

reflection, regarded the proposed expedition with favor, and
sent back word that they would co-operate with Colonels
Shelby and Sevier to aid their friends to return to their
homes beyond the mountains, and punish their Tory oppress-
ors ; Colonel Arthur Campbell informing Shelby, through
the messenger, Mr. Adair, of the Governor's sentiment,
and the efforts that would soon be made by Congress to
check the progress of the enemy. " The tale of McDowell's
men,'' says Colonel Arthur Campbell, "was a doleful one,
and tended to excite the resentment of the people, who of
late had become inured to danger by fighting the Indians,
and who had an utter detestation of the tyranny of the Brit-
ish Government."*

At a consultation of the field officers of Washington
County, it was agreed to call out one-half of the militia,
under Colonel William Campbell, for this over-mountain
service. That day, the twenty-second of September, the
order was made for the men, who seemed animated with a
spirit of patriotism, and speedily prepared for the expedi-
tion. An express was, at the same time, sent to Colonel
Cleveland, of Wilkes County, North Carolina, to apprise
him of the designs and movements of the men on the
Western waters, and request him to meet them, with all the
troops he could raise, at an appointed place on the east side
of the mountains. The express doubtless took the shortest
route, crossing New river not far from the Virginia and
North Carolina line, and thence to Wilkes County; and
probably the thirtieth of September, and the Quaker
Meadows, were the time and place of meeting. Colonel
Campbell went to the place of rendezvous by way of
Colonel Shelby's, while his men, who had assembled at the
first creek below Abingdon, marched down a nearer way
— by the Watauga road.

The whole country was animated by the same glowing
spirit, to do something to put down Ferguson and his Tory
gang, who threatened their leaders with the halter, and

*MS. statement of Colonel Arthur Campbell.

174 KING'S MOUNTAIN

their homes with the torch. " Here," exclaimed the young
second wife of Colonel Sevier, pointing to a youth of nearly
sixteen, "Here, Mr. Sevier, is another of your boys who
wants to go with his father and brother Joseph to the war ;
but we have no horse for him, and, poor fellow, it is too
great a distance for him to walk." Horses, indeed, were
scarce, the Indians having stolen many of them from the
settlers, but young James Sevier, with or without a horse,
went on the expedition.

Colonel Sevier endeavored to borrow money on his
private responsibility, to fit out his men for this distant
service — for there were a few traders in the country who
had small supplies of goods. What little money the people
had saved, had been expended to the last dollar to the
Entry Taker of Sullivan County, John Adair, the State
officer, for the sale of the North Carolina lands — the same
person, doubtless, whom Colonel Shelby had sent as his
express to Colonel Arthur Campbell. Sevier waited upon
him, and suggested that the public money in his possession
be advanced to meet the military exigencies at this critical
juncture. His reply was worthy of the man and the times :
"Colonel Sevier," said he, " I have no authority by law to
make that disposition of this money ; it belongs to the
impoverished treasury of North Carolina, and I dare not
appropriate a cent of it to any purpose ; but, if the country is
over-run by the British, our liberty is gone. Let the money
go, too. Take it. If the enemy, by its use, is driven from
the country, I can trust that country to justify and vindicate
my conduct — so take it."* Thus between twelve and thirteen
thousand dollars were obtained, ammunition and necessary
equipments secured, Colonels Sevier and Shelby pledging
themselves to see the loan refunded or legalized by an act
of the Legislature, which they effected at the earliest prac-
ticable moment. f

*This sturdy patriot subsequently settled in Knox County, Tennessee, where he died
in April, 1827, at the age of ninety-five years.
fRamsey's Tennessee, 226.

©<QW:,D<DIH]K SH^OtElM,

OF THE
UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS

AND ITS HEROES. 175

On Monday, the twenty-fifth of September, at the place
of rendezvous, at the Sycamore Flats or Shoals, at the foot
of the Yellow Mountain, on the Watauga, about three miles
below the present village of Elizabethtown, Colonel Camp-
bell's two hundred men assembled, together with. Colonel
Shelby's and Lieutenant-Colonel Sevier's regiments of two
hundred and forty men each. There McDowell's party had
been for some time in camp ; but Colonel McDowell him-
self, as soon as the expedition had been resolved on, hurried
with the glad news over the mountains, to encourage the
people, obtain intelligence of Ferguson's movements, and
hasten the march of Colonel Cleveland and the gallant men
of Wilkes and Surry. While yet in camp, all hearts were
gladdened by the unexpected arrival of Colonel Arthur
Campbell, with two hundred more men from his County,
fearing the assembled force might not be sufficient for the
important service they had undertaken ; and uniting these
new recruits with the others, this patriotic officer immedi-
ately returned home to anxiously watch the frontiers of
Holston, now so largely stripped of their natural defenders.*

Mostly armed with the Deckard f rifle, in the use of
which they were expert alike against Indians and beasts of
the forest, they regarded themselves the equals of Ferguson
and his practiced riflemen and musketeers. They were
little encumbered with baggage — each with a blanket, a
cup by his side, with which to quench his thirst from the
mountain streams, and a wallet of provisions, the latter
principally of parched corn meal, mixed, as it generally
was, with maple sugar, making a very agreeable repast,
and withal full of nourishment. An occasional skillet was
taken along for a mess, in which to warm up in water their
parched meal, and cook such wild or other meat as fortune

*MS. statement of the King's Mountain Expedition, by one of Campbell's men — the
writer not known— sent me by the late Governor David Campbell, of Abingdon. Virginia.

-f- A century ago the Deckard or Dickert rifle was largely manufactured at Lancaster,
Pennsylvania, by a person of that name. It was, for that period, a gun of remarkable pre-
cision for a long shot, spiral grooved, with a barrel some thirty inches long, and with its
stock some three and a half or four feet, carrying bullets varying from thirty to seventy
to the pound of lead. The owner of a Deckard rifle at that day rejoiced in its possession.

176 KING'S MOUNTAIN

should throw in their way. The horses, of course, had to
pick their living, and were hoppled out, of nights, to keep
them from straying away. A few beeves were driven along
the rear for subsistence, but impeding the rapidity of the
march, they were abandoned after the first day's journey.

Early on the twenty-sixth of September, the little army
was ready to take up its line of march over mountains and
through forests, and the Rev. Samuel Doak, the pioneer
clergyman of the Watauga settlements, being present, in-
voked, before their departure, the Divine protection and
guidance, accompanied with a few stirring remarks befitting
the occasion, closing with the Bible quotation, "The sword
of the Lord and of Gideon ;" when the sturdy, Scotch-
Irish Presbyterians around him, clothed in their tidy hunting-
shirts, and leaning upon their rifles in an attitude of respect-
ful attention, shouted in patriotic acclaim: "The sword
of the Lord and of our Gideons I " *

Then mounting their horses, for the most of them were
provided with hardy animals, they commenced their long
and difficult march. They would appear to have had some
trouble in getting their beeves started, and probably tarried
for their mid-day lunch, at Matthew Talbot's Mill, now
known as Clark's Mill, on Gap creek, only three miles
from the Sycamore Shoals. Thence up Gap creek to its
head, when they bore somewhat to the left, crossing Little
Doe river, reaching the noted "Resting Place," at the
Shelving Rock, about a mile beyond the Crab Orchard,
where, after a -march of some twenty miles that day, they
took up their camp for the night. Big Doe river, a bold
and limpid mountain stream, flowing hard by, afforded the
campers, their horses and beef cattle, abundance of pure
and refreshing water. f Here, a man of the name Miller
resided, who shod several of the horses of the party.

-"This," writes the venerable historian, Dr. J. G. M. Ramsey, "is the tradition of
the country, and I fully believe it." — MS. letter. June 21st, 1880

fit is not altogether certain that the over-mountain men camped here the first night ;
but such is the tradition, and such the probabilities. If they did not, then they went on
beyond the mountain summit, accomplishing some twenty-eight miles, which, with the
trouble of driving cattle, would seem quite improbable. It is only by concluding that

AND ITS HEROES. Ill

The next morning, Wednesday, the twenty-seventh,
probably weary of driving the cattle, some of which had
stampeded, they killed such as were necessary for a tempo-
rary supply of meat, thus considerably delaying the march
that day. Relieved of this encumbrance, they pressed for-
ward some four miles, when they reached the base of
the Yellow and Roan Mountains. "The next day"
— evidently after leaving the Sycamore Shoals, — says
Ensign Robert Campbell's diary, "we ascended the moun-
tain ;" which they did, following the well-known Bright* s
T?'ace, through a gap between the Yellow Mountain on the
north, and Roan Mountain on the south. The ascent was
not very difficult along a common foot-path. As they
receded from the lovely and verdant Crab Orchard valley,
"they found," says Campbell's diary, "the sides and top
of the mountain covered with snow, shoe-mouth deep ; and
on the summit," adds the same diarist, "there were about
a hundred acres of beautiful table-land, in which a spring
issued, ran through it, and over into the Watauga." Here
the volunteers paraded, under their respective commanders,
and were ordered to discharge their rifles ; and such was
the rarity of the atmosphere, that there was little or no
report.* This body of table-land on the summit of the
mountain has long been known as " The Bald Place ," or,
" The Bald of the Yellowy

An incident transpired while the troops were at " the
Bald" that exerted no small influence on the campaign.
Two of Sevier's men, James Crawford and Samuel Cham-
bers, here deserted ; and when they were missed, and their
object suspected — that of apprising Ferguson of the ap-
proach of the mountain men — instead of bearing to the

they camped at the celebrated " Resting Place," on the night of the twenty-sixth, that
we can reconcile Campbell's diary and the traditions of the oldest and best informed
people along the route, as to the other camping places till they reached the Catawba, on
the night of the thirtieth, as stated by Campbell, Shelby, and Cleveland, in the official
report of the expedition, and by Shelby in his several narratives.

•MS. letter of Dr. J. G. M. Ramsey, July 12, 1880. "This fact," adds the Doctor,
"was related to me by several of the old King's Mountain soldiers."
12

178 KING 'S MO UNTAIN

right, as they had designed, the troops took the left hand,
or more northerly route, hoping thereby to confuse the
enemy should they send spies on the southern trail, and
make no discoveries.*

After the parade and refreshments,! the day was well-nigh
spent, and the mountaineers passed on a couple of miles de-
scending the eastern slope of the mountains into Elk Hollow
— a slight depression between the Yellow and Roan moun-
tains, rather than a gap ; and here, at a fine spring flowing
into Roaring creek, they took up their camp for the night. J

Descending Roaring creek, on the twenty-eighth, four
miles, they reached its confluence with the North Toe
river, and a mile below they passed Bright's place, now
Avery's ; and thence down the Toe to the noted spring
on the Davenport place, since Tate's, and now known as
Child's place, a little distance west of the stream, where
they probably rested at noonday. Some thirty years ago
an old sword was found near this spring, supposed to have
been lost by some of the mountaineers. § As they de-
scended from the mountains, they reached a country
covered with verdure, where they enjoyed an atmosphere
of almost summer mildness. They followed the ravines
along the streams the most of the way, but over a very
rough, stony route — exceedingly difficult, and not unfre-
quently dangerous, for horses to pursue.

The mountain scenery along their route is scarcely ex-
ceeded for wildness and romantic grandeur, in any other
part of the country — several of the towering peaks, among
the loftiest in the United States, exceeding six thousand

* Haywood's Tennessee, on authority of Colonel Shelby, says this desertion occurred
on "the top" of the mountain : and Robert Campbell, in his King's Mountain Narratives,
states that the deserters " left the army on the Yellow mountain ; " and Dr. Ramsey
practically confirms these statements by asserting that it transpired on the second day.

f Captain Christopher Taylor, of Sevier's regiment, states, in his pension deposition,
that in a conference of the officers, held on Yellow Mountain, Colonel Campbell was ap-
pointed to the chief command. No other account confirms this statement, and Captain
Taylor must have had in mind the subsequent action to that effect.

J Campbell's diary; MS. correspondence of the late ex-Governor David Campbell,
a*d of Hon. Wm. B. Carter.

I MS. letter of W. A. McCall, Aug. 25, 1880.

AND ITS HEROES. 179

five hundred feet in height. The bright, rushing waters
tumbling over their rocky beds, and the lofty blue moun-
tains in the distance, present a weird, dreamy, bewildering
appearance. " Here," says a graphic writer on the mountain
region of North Carolina, "if we were to meet an army
with music and banners, we would hardly notice it; man,
and all his works, and all his devices, are sinking into
insignificance. We feel that we are approaching nearer
and nearer to the Almighty Architect. We feel in all
things about us the presence of the great Creator. A sense
of awe and reverence comes over us, and we expect to find
in this stupendous temple we are approaching, none but
men of pure hearts and benignant minds. But, by degrees,
as we clamber up the winding hill, the sensation of awe
gives way — new scenes of beauty and grandeur open upon
our ravished vision — and a multitude of emotions swell
within our hearts. We are dazzled, bewildered, and ex-
cited, we know not how, nor why ; our souls expand and
swim through the immensity before and around us, and our
being seems merged in the infinite and glorious works of
God. This is the country of the fairies ; and here they
have their shaded dells, their mock mountains, and their
green valleys, thrown into ten thousand shapes of beauty.
But higher up are the Titan hills ; and when we get among
them, we will find the difference between the abodes of the
giants and their elfin neighbors."

After a hard day's march for man and beast, they at
length reached Cathey's, or Cathoo's, plantation — since
Cathey's mill, at the mouth of Grassy creek, a small
eastern tributary of North Toe river ; and here they rested
for the night, f Some twenty miles were accomplished this
day. Their parched corn meal, and, peradventure, some

* C. H. Wiley's North Carolina Reader, 68, 77.

T Campbell's diary. The MS. correspondence of Thomas D. Vance. W. A. McCall,
Hon. Wm. B. Carter, W H. Allis. G. W. Crawford, Dr. J. C Newland, Hon. J. C. Har-
per, Colonel Samuel McDowell Tate, Hon. C. A. Cilley, Mrs. Mary A. Chambers, Dr. J.
G. M. Ramsey, and Major T. S. Webb, has been of essential importance in helping to de-
termine and describe the route and its localities of the King's Mountain men.

180 KING 'S MO UNTAIN

remaining beef rations, formed a refreshing repast, with
appetites sharpened by the rough exercise of so tedious
a jaunt over hills and dales, and rocks, and mountain
streams.

On Friday, the twenty- ninth, the patriot army pursued
its winding way up the valley of Grassy creek to its
head, some eight or nine miles, when they passed through
Gillespie's Gap in the Blue Ridge ; emerging from which
they joyfully beheld, here and there, in the distance, in
the mountain coves and rich valleys of the heads of the
Upper Catawba, the advanced settlements of the adven-
turous pioneers. Here the troops divided — Campbell's men,
at least, going six or seven miles south to Henry Gillespie's,
and a little below to Colonel William WofFord's Fort, both
in Turkey Cove ; while the others pursued the old trace in
an easterly direction, about the same distance, to the North
Cove, on the North Fork of the Catawba, where they
camped for the night in the woods, on the bank of that
stream, just above the mouth of Hunny cut's creek. On a
large beech tree, at this camp, several of the officers cut
their names,* among them Colonel Charles McDowell ;
who had, by arrangement, several days preceded the troops
from the camp of the Burke and Rutherford fugitives on the
Watauga.

At this point Colonel McDowell rejoined his over-
mountain friends, imparting to them such vague and un-
certain intelligence as he had been able to learn of Fergu-
son and his movements. Colonel McDowell had repaired
to his Quaker Meadow home, and exerted himself, by
sending messengers in every direction, to rouse the people ;
he had despatched James Blair, as an express, to hasten
forward Colonel Cleveland with the men of Wilkes and
Surry. Blair reached Fort Defiance, a distance of some
thirty miles, where he probably met Cleveland and his men

*This venerable tree, about 1835, was accidentally charred by burning logs, in clear-
ing land, causing it to die. W. A. McCall, who still resides there, saw the tree and read
the names many times.

AND ITS HEROES, 181

advancing ; but he did not accomplish his mission without
imperilling his life, for he was wounded by a stealthy Tory
by the way.*

Colonel Campbell's party visited the Turkey Cove settle-
ment, though some miles out of the way, with a view to
gaining intelligence. Henry Gillespie, near whose cabin
some of the troops camped, a hardy Irishman, who had
perhaps been a dozen years in the country, and from
whom the neighboring Gap took its name, was acting a
neutral part in the war — probably, from his exposed situa-
tion, as his only recourse to save himself and family from
destruction by the Indians, instigated, as they were, by
British emissaries stationed among them. Gillespie was
kept at camp during the night ; but he really had no secrets
to reveal and was set at liberty the following morning. f

Ensign Campbell's diary states : "The fourth night, the
twenty-ninth, we rested at a rich Tory's, where we obtained
an abundance of every necessary refreshment." This evi-
dently refers to Colonel Wofford, for he was wealthy, and
well-to-do for that day ; while his near neighbor, Gillespie,
was poor, and his little cabin and small surrounding im-
provements, were sufficient evidence of it. But this is a
cruel and unjust imputation upon the memory of so worthy
a man as William Wofford. Descended from ancestry from
the north of England, he was born near Rock creek, in
then Prince George, now Montgomery County, Maryland,
about twelve miles above Washington City, on the twenty-
fifth of October, 1728. Of his early life, we have no
knowledge ; but he most likely served among the Mary-
land troops in the French and Indian war raging on the
frontiers of that and the neighboring Colonies in his
younger days.

Colonel Wofford was a man of enterprise, early mi-

* Blair's MS. pension statement.

f Henry Gillespie died at the Turkey Cove, about 1812, at the age of well-nigh eighty
years, leaving two sons, David and William.

182 KING 'S MO UN TAIN

grating to the upper country of South Carolina, where, on
Pacolet river, he erected noted iron works. He was one
of the leading patriots of that region, and served as Lieu-
tenant-Colonel on Williamson's Cherokee campaign of
1776.* Early in 1779, he was in service in pursuit of the
fugitive Tory party under Colonel John Moore, when flee-
ing from North Carolina to Georgia ; and, in the spring
and summer of that year, he served in Georgia and South
Carolina, under General Lincoln,f and doubtless shared in
the battle of Stono.

It was probably on the fall of Charleston, when his
iron works were destroyed, that he, to avoid the British
and Tories who were over-running South Carolina, retired
to the Upper Catawba, purchasing a fine tract of nine
hundred acres, with improvements, of one Armstrong, an
enterprising pioneer in the Turkey Cove. At his new
home, he erected a fort for his own and neighbors' pro-
tection against the Indians, and built a small grist-mill. It
is barely possible that Colonel WofFord may have been
prevailed upon by the frontier settlers of Burke county, to
unite with Captain John Carson and others, to take pro-
tection from Colonel Ferguson when he invaded the
Upper Catawba valley, merely as a temporary ruse to pre-
serve their stock and other property from those rapacious
plunderers. But of this, there is no evidence, save the
vague allusion of Ensign Campbell. At all events, Colonel
WofFord was no Tory, and never lifted a finger against his
country. It is quite evident, that Colonel Campbell gained
no important intelligence from either Colonel WofFord or
Henry Gillespie, simply because they were not the men to
have confided to them the secrets of the Loyalists, and con-
sequently had nothing to impart.];

*Dr. John Whelchel's MS. pension statement.

fCapt. Matthew Patton's MS. pension statement.

I Colonel Wofford subsequently gave much attention to the surveying of lands; and,
several years after the war, removed to what is now Habersham county, Georgia, where he
became an influential citizen, and died near Toccoa Falls, about 1823, at the age of about

AND ITS HEROES. 183

The respective divisions — the one at the Turkey Cove,
and the other at the North Cove — had marched some fifteen
miles this day. Colonel Charles McDowell must have been
able to inform the troops, whom he happily met at the
North Cove, that Ferguson was yet at and near Gilbert
Town ; that Cleveland and Winston, at the head of the
Wilkes and Surry men, were approaching in strong force ;
and that the South Carolina parties under Lacey and
Hill, and Williams' separate corps, were at no great dis-
tance. That Ferguson was still reposing in fancied se-
curity within striking distance, and that strong Whig re-
inforcements were at hand, were matters of good omen ;
and tended, in no small degree, to encourage and inspirit
the patriots in their combined efforts and self-denials to
rid their suffering country of a powerful, invading foe.

On Saturday morning, the thirtieth of the month,
the troops at the North Cove took up their line of march,
passing over Silver and Linville mountains, then along a
dividing ridge, and down Paddie's creek to the Catawba.
They probably rested at mid-day, delaying a while for the
detachment from Turkey Cove, who had several miles
farther to march in order to overtake them. When re-
united, and refreshed, they pushed on, as the old trail then
ran, from the mouth of Paddie's creek, down the north-
west bank of the Catawba, crossing the mouth of Linville
river,* and thence to the Quaker Meadows, the noted home

ninety-five years, being able to read and write without spectacles to the last. General
Wm T. Wofford. of Bartow county, Georgia, is his great grandson.

A daughter of Colonel Wofford's was, in after years, married to David Gillespie, the old-
est son of Henry Gillespie. David Gillespie was a youth of some fourteen years when the
over-mountain men marched to King's Mountain. All through life he was very observant,
and possessed a most retentive memory; and from him these facts were derived about a
portion of the mountaineers going to Turkey Cove, and the others to the North Cove, and
about the detention of his father in camp over night. We are indebted to Wm. A.
McCall. of North Cove, for these traditions, which he had from his grandfather, David
Gillespie, and to some extent, corroborated by Arthur McFall. an old hunter of the Revo-
lutionary period, who frequently made his home with Gillespie. At the venerable age
of about ninety-two, David Gillespie died in Turkey Cove, in 1859.

*This fine mountain stream was named from this circumstance. In the latter part of
the summer of 1766, William Linville, his son. and a ynung man, had gone from the lower
Yadkin to this river to hunt, where they were surprised by a party of Indians, the two

184 KING'S MO UNTAIN

of Colonel Charles and Major Joseph McDowell. Here
they encamped for the night, after a long and wearisome
march, especially on the part of Campbell's corps, who had
accomplished well-nigh thirty-one miles this day, and the
others about twenty-three.* The McDowells did all within
their power to render the mountaineers comfortable around
their cheerful camp-fires — Major McDowell particularly
bidding them to freely avail themselves of his dry rails
in kindling their fires for their evening repast, and for their
night's enjoyment.f

Here they had the joyous satisfaction of being joined
by the troops from Wilkes and Surry, under the leader-
ship of Cleveland and Winston — reported at the time, for
effect, at eight hundred, but really numbering only three
hundred and fifty. When the people of the Yadkin region
heard of Ferguson's advance into Burke county, and of
the engagement so near them, at the head of Cane creek,
between McDowell and the British and Tory forces, it
exerted a powerful influence in arousing them for active ser-
vice. Some of them, under Colonel Cleveland, had been
on the head of New river, suppressing the Tory insurrec-
tion in that quarter ; and when they received tidings of the
approach of the over-mountain men, they were already em-
bodied, waiting to march at the tap of the drum — if not,
indeed, actually en route to join their distant brethren.
West from Wilkesboro, some eight or ten miles, they crossed
the Yadkin at the mouth of Warrior creek ; thence bearing
to the south-west, some eighteen or twenty miles, they

Linvilles killed, the other person, though badly wounded, effecting his escape. The Lin-
villes were related to the famous Daniel Boone.

* We are indebted to Mr. McCall for the route of march of the King's Mountain men
from the North Cove to the Quaker Meadows, derived from his grandfather, David Gilles-
pie. Beside Mr. McCall's tradition, John Spelts and the venerable Major Samuel G.
Blalock, declare that they marched by way of Quaker Meadows and Morganton. Captain A.
Burgin and J. C Whitson both of McDowell County, North Carolina, state, on the author-
ity of aged people of the Upper Catawba valley, related to them many years since, that
the over-mountain men assuredly took the route by the Quaker Meadows on their outward
march.

fMS. notes of conversations with John Spelts, of Marshall county, Miss., in 1844,
a venerable survivor of Major McDowell's King's Mountain men.

AND ITS HEROES. 185

reached old Fort Defiance ; and thence some eight or ten
miles across Warrior mountain, to Crider's Fort,* where
the village of Lenoir is now located. Here Philip Evans,
one of the Surry men, received a severe injury by a fall
from his horse, which rendered it necessary to leave him
there for recovery, t

But a worse accident befell Lieutenant Larkin Cleve-
land, a younger brother of the Colonel. It was some ten
miles from Crider's Fort, crossing the Brushy mountain, to
Lovelady's Ford of the Catawba. While crossing the river,
Lieutenant Cleveland, with the advance, after having
passed a narrow defile between a rocky cliff and the stream,
was shot by some concealed Tories in the cliff, severely
wounding him in the thigh. The Loyalists had learned
of Colonel Cleveland's march, and had resolved on his
destruction, hoping thereby to cripple the expedition and
possibly defeat its object. Colonel Cleveland and his
brother very much resembled each other in size and
general appearance ; and the Tories probably mistook
the latter for the Colonel.

The men in the rear, on hearing the volley, rushed for-
ward to surround the daring party in ambush, and, if
possible, to effect their capture ; but the birds had flown.
Sending the wounded Lieutenant in a canoe up the river,
the troops forded the stream without further trouble, and ad-
vancing half a dozen miles, passed through Morganton — or
what was shortly after so named in honor of General Daniel
Morgan, the hero of the Cowpens ; and, about two miles west

*Hon. J. C. Harper, of Patterson, Caldwell County, N. C, writes: "Fort Crider
was situated on a small eminence within the present limits of Lenoir. It had a hill on the
east, and another on the west. Some forty years ago, I heard old Henry Sumter relate,
that when the fort was built, a hunter came along, and declared it was not safe, as he could
shoot a man in it from either of the hills. On this being disputed, a coat was hung on a
stick within the stockade, and the hunter, at the first fire, sent his ball through it from the
top of the western hill. It was a remarkable shot for a gun of those days."

f Evans' MS. pension statement. Mr. Evans recovered in good season to aid in
guarding the prisoners on the return of the King's Mountain men; and to share under
Major McDowell, in Morgan's glorious victory at the Cowpens, January 17, 1781. He
was a native of Rowan County, N. C, born June 17, 1759; and died in Greenville County,
S. C, June 19, 1849. at the age of ninety years.

186 KING 'S MO UNTAIN

of that point, they again reached and re-crossed the Catawba,
meeting with a joyful reception by the McDowells and the
mountaineers at the Quaker Meadows. Here Lieutenant
Cleveland was confided to the care of the widowed mother
of the McDowells, who bestowed every attention upon the
unfortunate officer. Though he in time recovered, he was
a cripple for life.*

Sunday morning, October the first, dawned brightly
upon the mountaineers at their camp, at the Quaker Mead-
ows— a gratifying continuation of the fine weather that had
enabled them so comfortably, and with such satisfactory
progress, to pass the mountain ranges. Resuming their
march, with a better road, they made a more rapid advance,
passing the Pilot mountain, near the present village of Brin-
dletown — a noted beacon for travelers, prominently discern-
ible for many miles away. In the afternoon a rain storm
set in, and they early encamped in a gap of the South
mountain, near where the heads of Cane and Silver creeks
interlock each other, and not very far from the scene of the
fight three weeks before, between the British and Tory
forces and Colonel McDowell's party. This day's march
numbered some eighteen miles.

So wet did the next day, Monday, prove, that the army
remained in their camp. The little disorders and irregu-
larities which began to prevail among the troops, unaccus-
tomed to discipline and restraint, occasioned no little un-
easiness among the commanding officers. As if by instinct,
the field officers of the several corps met that evening for
consultation. Colonel McDowell, as the senior officer, pre-
sided. It was suggested that inasmuch as the troops were
from different States, no one properly had the right to com-
mand the whole, and it was important that there should be
a military head to their organization ; and, to this end,

*MS. statement of Elijah Callaway; and MS. letters of Shadrach Franklin and Jere-
miah Cleveland— the two latter nephews of the wounded Lieutenant. Callaway was a
stout lad of some eleven years at that time, a resident of Wilkes county, and well
acquainted with the Clevelands.

AND ITS HEROES. 187

that a messenger be sent to General Gates, at his head-
quarters, wherever they might be, informing him of their
situation, and requesting him to send forward a general offi-
cer to take the command. This was agreed to.

Anything looking like delay was not in accordance with
the views of Shelby and his associate officers — expedition
and dispatch were all-important at this critical juncture. It
was now proposed, to meet the emergency, that the corps
commanders should convene in council daily, to determine
on the measures to be pursued the ensuing day, and appoint
one of their number as officer of the day, to put them in
execution, until they should otherwise determine. Colonel
Shelby, not quite satisfied with this suggestion, observed
that they were then within sixteen or eighteen miles of Gil-
bert Town, where they supposed Ferguson to be, who would
certainly attack them if strong enough to do so, or avoid
them, if too weak, until he could collect more men, or ob-
tain a reinforcement, with which they would not dare to cope,
and hence it behooved them to act with decision and
promptitude. They needed, he continued, an efficient head,
and vigorous moyements ; that all the commanding officers
were North Carolinians, save Colonel Campbell, who was
from Virginia ; that he knew him to be a man of good
sense, and warmly attached to the cause of his country ;
that he commanded the largest regiment, and closed by
proposing to make Campbell commanding officer, until a
general officer should arrive from head-quarters, and that
they march immediately against the enemy.

Colonel Campbell thereupon took Colonel Shelby aside
and requested him to withdraw his name, and consent to
serve himself. Shelby replied that he was the youngest
Colonel present — which was true ; that he had served under
Colonel McDowell, who was too slow for such an enter-
prise, who would naturally take offence should he be ele-
vated to the command over him ; that while he (Shelby)
ranked Campbell, and as the latter was the only officer from

188 KING'S MOUNTAIN

Virginia, if he pressed his appointment, no one would
object. Colonel Campbell felt the force of this reasoning,
and consented to serve. The proposition was approved and
adopted.

Shelby's object in suggesting Colonel Campbell's ap-
poinment, is best explained by himself. " I made the
proposition," says Shelby in his pamphlet, in 1823, "to
silence the expectations of Colonel McDowell to command
us — he being the commanding officer of the district we
were then in, and had commanded the armies of militia
assembled in that quarter all the summer before against
the same enem}^. He was a brave and patriotic man, but
we considered him too far advanced in life, and too inactive
for the command of such an enterprise as we were engaged
in. I was sure he would not serve under a younger officer
from his own State, and hoped that his feelings would,
in some degree, be saved by the appointment of Colonel
Campbell." In his narrative, in the American Review,
December, 1848, Governor Shelby makes no reference to
McDowell's age, but simply states, that he " was too slow
an officer" for the enterprise.

Though Colonel Shelby speaks of McDowell's age as
objectionable for such a service, it really deserved little, if
any, consideration. He was then only some thirty-seven
years of age * — Colonel Cleveland was some years older,
and Shelby himself, the youngest of the Colonels, was only
seven years his junior. It may be curious to note, that
"Old Put," then in active service, was twenty -five years
older than McDowell, General Evan Shelby, the Colonel's
father, who, the year before, commanded an important
expedition against the Chicamauga Indian towns, was

♦There is much diversity in the authorities as to General McDowell's birth-year.
It is assumed, in this connection, that he was born in 1743, as stated in Wheeler s Hist, of
North Carolina, published while Captain Charles McDowell, a son of the General, was
still living, and who is believed to have furnished the statement. Other accounts, of a tra-
ditional character, place his birth, one in 1740, and another in 1742 ; while his tomb-stone,
giving the date of his death, March 31, 1815, says he was "about Seventy years of age."
If this latter be true, then he was still younger, born about 1745.

AND ITS HEROES. 189

twenty-three years older, General Stark fifteen, Washing-
ton eleven, Marion ten, Sumter at least four, and General
Greene one. The real objection to Colonel McDowell was
not so much his age, as his lack of tact and efficiency for
such a command ; and, it has been hinted, moreover, that
his conduct at the Cane creek affair was not without its
influence in producing the general distrust entertained of
his fitness to lead the mountain men on this important ser-
vice. The expression was quite general, that General
Morgan or General Davidson should be sent to take the
command ; the former, especially, who had gained such
renown at Saratoga, and had recently joined General
Gates, was highly esteemed by the mountaineers.*

Colonel McDowell, who had the good of his country
at heart more than any title to command, submitted grace-
fully to what was done ; but observed, that as he could not
be permitted to command, he would, if agreeable, convey
to head-quarters the request for a general officer. This
was warmly approved, as it was justly declared that he was
well acquainted with the situation of the country, and could,
better than any other, concert with General Gates a plan of
future operations, and they would await his return. The
manner in which this was presented gratified McDowell,
who at once set off on his mission, leaving his men under
the command of his brother, Major Joseph McDowell. \
Passing through Burke county, McDowell's command, par-
ticularly, was considerably increased]; by relatives, friends

*This statement of the action of the officers in council at the South Mountain camp is
made up largely from Shelby's narratives; that in Haywood and'Ramsey's Histories of
Tennessee, his pamphlet of 1823, and his Hardin account in the American Review of Decem-
ber, 1848. The late Colonel Wm. Martin, of Tennessee, also furnished his recollections
as derived in conversations with Colonel Cleveland. John Spelts, one of the King's
Mountain men, related several facts connected with this council.

•j- Of the result of McDowell's mission, we have no information, save that he called at
the camp of Lacey and Hill, and their South Carolinians, and Williams and his corps, at
Flint Hill, a dozen miles or so to the eastward of the head of Cane creek He doubtless
visited General Gates, at Hillsboro; but as the news of the King's Mountain victory
reached there nearly as early as Colonel McDowell, there was no occasion for any action
in the premises.

X Shelby's narrative, 1823.

190 KING '£ MO UNTAIN

and neighbors ; and there John Spelts, § or Continental
Jack, as he was familiarly called by his associates, first
joined Shelby's regiment, but fought under McDowell.
Colonel Campbell now assumed the chief command ; in
which, however, he was to be directed and regulated by the
determination of the Colonels, who were to meet every day
for consultation.

Everything was now arranged quite satisfactorily to the
Whig chiefs ; and their men were full of martial ardor,
anxious to meet the foe, confident of their ability, with
their unerring rifles, to overthrow Ferguson and his Loyal-
ist followers, even were their numbers far greater than they
were represented.

§ MS. notes of conversations with Spelts, in 1844. He was a jolly old soldier, then in
his ninety-fourth year, and from him were derived many interesting reminiscences of the
Revolution.

AND ITS HEROES. 191

CHAPTER X.

September— October, 1780.

Further Gathering of the King s Mountain Men. — Williams' North
Carolina Recruits. — Moveme?its of Sumter's Force under Hill and
Lacey. — Troubles with Williams. — March to Flint Hill. — The
Mountaineers at their South Mountain Camp. — Patriotic Appeals
of the Officers to their Men. — Resume of Ferguson s Operations in
the Upper Catawba Valley. — Alarming Intelligence of the Ap-
proach of the Back Water Men. — Why Ferguson Tarried so long
on the Frontiers. — British Scheme of Suppressing the Rebellion by
the Gallows. — Ferguson Flees from Gilbert Town. — Sends Messen-
gers for aid to Cornwallis and Cruger. — Frenzied Appeal to the
Tories. — Ferguson's Breakfast Stolen by Saucy Whigs. — His
Flight to Tate's Ferry. — Dispatch to Lord Cornwallis. — Takes
Post on King's Mountain, and Description of it. — Motives for
Lingering there.

It will be remembered, that Governor Nash had granted
to Colonel Williams, a South Carolinian, the privilege of
organizing a corps of mounted men within the North Prov-
ince. Under this authority, he enlisted about seventy, chiefly
while encamped at Higgin's plantation, in Rowan County.
Colonel Brandon and Major Hammond were quite active
in this service. The call for recruits was dated September
twenty-third; and was headed: "A call to arms! — Beef,
bread, and potatoes." These implied promises of good
fare were more easily made than fulfilled — probably based
on the fact that Governor Nash had given orders to the
commissaries of that State to furnish the party "such sup-
plies as may be necessary." Colonel Hill tells us, that
these North Carolinians who enrolled under Williams, were
men who shirked duty under their own local officers ; and
besides the tempting offer of "beef, bread, and potatoes,"
Colonel Williams had furthermore promised what was re-

192 KING'S MOUNTAIN

garded as still better in the estimation of men of easy
virtue — the privilege of plundering the Tories of South
Carolina of "as many negroes and horses as they might
choose to take."

This little force, as Major Hammond states in his pen-
sion application, constituted "the largest portion of Wil-
liams' command at King's Mountain;" and with them the
Colonel pushed forward some sixty or seventy miles south-
west of Salisbury, where, after crossing the Catawba at the
Tuckasegie Ford, on the second of October, he found
Sumter's command under Colonels Hill and Lacey, in the
forks of the main and south branches of that stream.* This
party, to the number of about two hundred and seventy, had
retired from South Carolina for their own safety, and to be
in readiness to form a junction with others whenever they
could hope thereby to render useful service to their suffer-
ing country. Williams marched into the camp of Sumter's
men ; and as Sumter himself, and the most of his principal
officers were still absent — the latter, endeavoring to arrange
with Governor Rutledge with reference to the command,
Williams probably thought it a favorable opportunity to
read again, as he did, his commission of Brigadier, and
with an imperious air, commanded the officers and men to
submit to his authority. Colonel Hill frankly told him, in
no gingerly language, that there was not an officer nor a
man in the whole body who would, for a moment, yield
obedience to him ; that commissioners had been sent to the
Governor with proofs of the baseness of his conduct, as
they regarded it, whose return was soon expected. Evi-
dently fearing, from what he saw around him, that he
might be subjected to worse treatment than a mere denunci-

* Colonel Hill's Manuscript Narrative; Major Hammond's and Andrew Floyd's pen-
sion statements ; Colonel Williams' letter to General Gates, October 2, 1780, in the gazettes
of the day, and Almon's Remembrancer, xi, 158.

By some unaccountable mistake, or misprint, this letter of Colonel Williams, is dated
" Burke County; " when all the other authorities, Hill. Floyd, Hammond and Whelchel—
the two latter of Williams' party — combine to show, beyond a doubt, that they were at this
time in Lincoln County, west or south-west of Tuckasegie Ford.

AND ITS HEROES. 193

ation of words, Williams thought it prudent to beat a safe
retreat, which he did, forming his camp some distance
apart from the other.

Colonels Hill and Lacey had previously designed to
form a junction with General Davidson, of North Carolina,
to whom they had sent an express, who gave them, in re-
turn, information, probably derived through a messenger from
Colonel McDowell on his earliest return from Watauga, that
there was, by this time, a considerable body of men from
both sides of the mountains, marching with a view of
measuring swords and rifles with the redoubtable Ferguson.
With this gratifying intelligence, they crossed the Catawba
at Beattie's Ford, and that evening received the call already
related, from Colonel Williams. That day Colonels Gra-
ham and Hambright had joined the South Carolinians, with
a small party of some sixty men from Lincoln County.

On that evening Colonel Hill suggested to Colonel
Lacey, that, as they might have to encounter a superior
force in a short time, they had better conciliate Colonel
Williams, though his followers were but few, if they could
do so without recognizing his right to command them.
Lacey coincided with this view. It was therefore proposed
that the troops should be arranged into three divisions
— the South Carolinians proper, Graham and Hambright/s
party, and Williams' followers, who, by this time, would
seem to have been joined by Captain Roebuck's company —
perhaps some twenty or thirty in number ; and choose a
commanding officer for the whole, the orders and move-
ments of the corps to be determined by all the officers.
When the matter was submitted to him the next morning,
he ''spurned " the offer, as Colonel Hill informs us, renew-
ing the intimation, that by virtue of his Brigadier's com-
mission, he would command the whole. He was plainly
told, that if he would not accept the honorable offer made
him, he should absent himself, and not attempt to march
with the South Carolina and Lincoln County men, or the

194 KING 'S MO UNTAIN

consequences might be more serious than would be agree-
able to him. Seeing no prospect of carrying his point,
Williams finally acceded to the proposition, and an officer
was chosen to command the whole. That day the spies
came in with the intelligence, that the mountain men were
advancing through a valley between a large and small
mountain — probably referring to the South Mountain, at
the head of Cane creek.

This party of South Carolinians and their associates
marched through Lincoln County, crossing the upper forks
of Dutchman's creek, proceeding on to Ramsour's Mill,
on the South Fork of Catawba ; thence bearing some-
what south-westwardly, crossing Buffalo and First Broad
rivers, to Flint Hill* — now sometimes known as Cherry
Mountain, in the eastern part of Rutherford County — a
great place of modern summer resort, where cherries in
their season abound. f From the flinty rocks along the
mountain sides gush many clear and cool springs, the
heads of neighboring streams. The hill was covered with
timber, as was doubtless the surrounding country, rendering
the locality a most inviting camping ground. \ Here, on the
third of October, the South Carolinians, the Lincoln men,
and Williams' party, took up their temporary quarters. On
the day of their arrival at Flint Hill, Colonel McDowell
called on them while on his mission to Hillsboro ; § but the
designs of the mountain men to make a push for Ferguson
were not fully resolved on till after the Colonel's departure.
His intelligence, therefore, was not sufficiently decisive to
warrant them in taking up their line of march in any direc-
tion ; and so they patiently awaited further developments
of the plans and movements of the mountaineers.

Let us return to the mountain men whom we left in camp

*MS. pension statements of Dr. John Whelchel, of Williams' party, and Andrew
Floyd, of Graham's men.

f Colonel J. R Logan's MS. correspondence.

JMS. letter of W. L Twitty.

g Shelby's narrative in American Review, December, 1848.

AND ITS HEROES. 195

in the gap at South Mountain, some sixteen or eighteen
miles north of Gilbert Town. It was now supposed that
the decisive contest between the Tories of the Western
Carolinas and their Whig antagonists would be fought at
that place. The officers of the mountaineers were more or
less experienced, and felt an abiding confidence of success.
Thinking it a good occasion, before taking up the line of
march on the morning of October the third, to address a
few stirring words to the patriotic army, Colonel Cleve-
land requested the troops to form a circle, and he "would
tell them the news," as he expressed it. Though a rough,
uncouth frontiersman, and weighing at this time fully two
hundred and fifty pounds, Cleveland possessed the happy
faculty of inspiring men with much of his own indomitable
spirit. Colonel Sevier was active in getting the men into
form, assuring them that they would hear something that
would interest them. Cleveland came within the circle,
accompanied by Campbell, Shelby, Sevier, McDowell,
Winston, and other officers ; and taking off his hat, said
with much freedom and effect :

" Now, my brave fellows, I have come to tell you the
news. The enemy is at hand, and we must up and at
them. Now is the time for every man of you to do his
country a priceless service — such as shall lead your
children to exult in the fact that their fathers were the
conquerors of Ferguson. When the pinch comes, I shall
be with you. But if any of you shrink from sharing in the
battle and the glory, you can now have the opportunity
of backing out, and leaving; and you shall have a few
minutes for considering the matter."

"Well, my good fellows," inquired Major McDowell,
with a winning smile on his countenance, " what kind of a
story will you, who back out, have to relate when you get
home, leaving your braver comrades to fight the battle, and
gain the victory?"

" You have all been informed of the offer," said Shelby ;

196 KING 'S MO UNTAIN

" you who desire to decline it, will, when the word is given,
march three steps to the rear, and stand, prior to which a
few more minutes will be granted you for consideration."
At length the word was given by the officers to their re-
spective commands, that "those who desired to back out
would step three paces in the rear." Not a man accepted
the unpatriotic privilege. A murmur of applause arose
from the men on every hand, who seemed to be proud of
each other, that there were no slinks nor cowards among
their number. "I am heartily glad," said Shelby, "to see
you to a man resolve to meet and fight your country's foes.
When we encounter the enemy, don't wait for the word of
command. Let each one of you be your own officer, and
do the very best you can, taking every care you can of
yourselves, and availing yourselves of every advantage that
chance may throw in your way. If in the woods, shelter
yourselves, and give them Indian play ; advance from tree
to tree, pressing the enemy and killing and disabling all
you can. Your officers will shrink from no danger — they
will be constantly with you, and the moment the enemy give
way, be on the alert, and strictly obey orders." *

These appeals to the mountain men were adroitly put,
and had a good effect. Each soldier felt that he could im-
plicitly rely on his fellows to stand by him to the last. The
troops were now dismissed, with directions to be ready to
march in three hours — and have provisions prepared for
two meals, and placed in their knapsacks. Cleveland and
McDowell seem to have obtained some liquor, and added
that "when the men were ready for the march, they should
have a 'treat.' " f They marched down Cane creek a few
miles, making slow progress, and encamped for the night
with the usual guards on duty. The next day, October the
fourth, they renewed the march, fording and re-fording
Cane creek many times, as the trail then ran, and at night

* MS. notes of conversations with John Spelts, whose memory of this gathering, and
the remarks of Cleveland, McDowell and Shelby, was clear and vivid,
t Spelts' recollections.

AND ITS HEROES. 197

reached the neighborhood of its mouth, in the region of
Gilbert Town. They learned this day from Jonathan
Hampton, that Ferguson had retreated from Gilbert Town ;
and also received information that it was his purpose to
evade an engagement with them.*

In order to give a proper view of the movements of the
opposing parties, it is now necessary to recur to Ferguson
and his Tory followers. It will be remembered, that Fergu-
son's troops made an excursion, during the month of Septem-
ber, into the Upper Catawba Valley, in then Burke, now
McDowell County ; and that several of the patriots, Captain
John Carson among them, were prevailed on by the Whig
leaders to take protection, simply as a ruse by which to
save as much of the stock of the country as possible. The
scheme worked to a charm, not merely in benefiting the
Whigs, but by Captain Carson's shrewd management, it
produced, in the end, a telling effect on the few Tories of
that region. Ferguson began to suspect that Carson and
his friends were deceiving him, and saving more cattle than
probably belonged to them, and resolved that he would not
be thus foiled by such backwoods diplomacy. So he
fitted out a party from camp to go in quest of beeves thus
attempted to be smuggled out of harm's way, and lay in a
good supply of meat. Carson accompanied the foraging
expedition. A large herd was found roaming about the
extensive cane-brakes, where David Greenlee since resided ;
but Carson was close-mouthed about their ownership until
the Tory party had slaughtered over a hundred head of fine
young cattle, when he quietly observed, that he expected
that they were the property of Joseph Brown, Dement, and
Johnstone, who had joined Ferguson, and were then in his
camp. These men got wind of the transaction, made in-
quiries, and ascertained that it was indeed their stock that
had been so unceremoniously appropriated for his Majesty's
troops. They were not a little chop-fallen and disgusted,

*General Joseph Graham's narrative; MS. correspondence with Jonathan Hampton, Jr.

198 KING 'S MO UNTAIN

and the affair was soon noised abroad, and had quite a
dispiriting effect upon the Loyalists of the country. Fer-
guson declared that the Rebels had out witted him.*

A little incident, worthy of relation, occurred while the
British troops were encamped at Davidson's place, since
Mclntyre's, two miles west of Captain Carson's. A soldier
was tempted to kill a chicken and enjoy a savory meal, but
he happened to be discovered by Mrs. Davidson, who
promptly reported the theft to Ferguson. The British
commander had the culprit immediately punished, and gave
the good lady a dollar in compensation for the loss.f This
act was certainly creditable to Ferguson's sense of justice ;
but it was, like an oasis in the desert, a circumstance of
very unfrequent occurrence.

Returning from this excursion, Ferguson and his Tory
marauders camped a while at the White Oak Spring, near
Brindletown. Their camp was in close proximity to the
lofty peak known in all that region as Pilot Mountain, almost
isolated in the midst of a comparatively level country —
so named, as tradition has it, from its having been the land-
mark of the Indians in their wanderings, and the guide by
which the Tory foraging parties, in 1780, directed their
course when returning from their plundering expeditions.
One of these parties captured Robert Campbell, too old for
active service, while at breakfast, at his home on Camp
Creek, twelve miles north-east of Rutherfordton, and con-
veyed him to the camp at White Oak Spring.

Reference has heretofore been made to the fight at
Cowan's Ford, on Cane creek. One traditonj places the

* MS. narrative of Vance and McDowell, preserved by Robert Henry.

fMS. letter of Governor D. L. Swain, of Chapel Hill. North Carolina, February 8th,
1854, to General John G. Bynum, on authority of D. M. Smith, of Asheville, North Caro-
lina, a grandson of Mrs Davidson, communicated by Rev. W. S. Bynum, of Winston,
North Carolina.

\ MS. correspondence of Wm. L. Twitty, who derived the tradition from Wm. Mon-
teith. and he from Wm. Watson, a worthy Revolutionary hero who was in the fight, and
who died in 1854, at the venerable age of ninety-five years. It may be added, in this con-
nection, that old Wm. Marshall, in his lifetime placed several large blocks of granite on
the spot where this contest is said to have taken place, to identify the locality, and com-
memorate the occurrence. This would go to prove, that some Revolutionary event must
have transpired at that point.

AND ITS HEROES. 199

locality of this contest some three miles above Cowan's
Ford, at the old Marshall place, now Jonathan Walker's, on
the west branch of that stream. One Hemphill was killed ;
Captain Joseph White, John Criswell, and Peter Branks
were wounded in this affair.* It was a sort of drawn
battle, on a small scale, neither party caring to renew the
conflict. Ferguson and his officers seemed to prefer camp-
ing on or near some hill or elevation ; so while prosecuting
their retreat, they took post on the top of a high hill at
Samuel Andrews' place, twelve miles north of Gilbert
Town. Here the stock, poultry, and. every thing they
could make use of, were unfeelingly appropriated ; while
the unfortunate owner, Andrews, and his Whig neighbors,
had fled for safety to the neighboring Cane creek moun-
tains.! At length the jaded troops, with their disabled
Major, Dunlap, reached their old locality at Gilbert Town
— the men encamping on Ferguson's Hill, while Dunlap
was conveyed to Gilbert's residence.

On the thirtieth of September,]; little dreaming of any
impending danger, Ferguson was suddenly awakened from
his sense of security. The two Whig deserters, Crawford
and Chambers, arrived from the camp of the mountaineers
on the top of the Yellow Mountain, with the alarming
intelligence of the rapid approach of ',' the Back Water
men," as Ferguson termed them. He rightly judged, that
if his threats of hanging, fire, and sword had no effect on
them,. they were coming with a full determination to fight
him with desperation. He had furloughed many of his
Tory followers to visit their families, under promise of
rejoining him on short notice. He had been tarrying
longer than he otherwise would, in the hope of intercepting
Colonel Clarke, who had laid siege to Augusta, Georgia,

* MS. pension statements of Captain James Withrow and Richard Ballew.

fMS. correspondence of A. B. Long and W. L. Twitty.

JColonel Cruger's letter to Ferguson, of 3d October, 1780, refers to the latter's dis-
patch of September 30th. with the alarming news of " so considerable a force as you under-
stand is coming from the mountains. * ':< * I don't see how you can possibly [defend]
the country and the neighborhood you are now in. The game from the mountains is just
what I expected." — Ramsey's Tennessee, 242.

200 KING'S MO UNTAIN

from the fourteenth to the sixteenth of September, and
would have completely succeeded, had not Colonel Cruger
arrived from Ninety Six with a party of relief, when Clarke
was compelled to make his way northward, along the east-
ern base of the mountains.

Cruger promptly apprised Ferguson *of Clarke's oper-
ations and retirement. In the pursuit, quite a number of
the Whigs were taken prisoners by the British and their
Tory and Indian allies, and several were scalped. Captain
Ashby and twelve other captives were hanged under the
eyes of Colonel Browne, the British commandant of Au-
gusta, who was twice disabled during the seige, and was
smarting under the effect of his wounds ; thirteen who were
delivered to the Cherokees were killed by the tomahawk,
or by tortures, or thrown into fires. Thirty altogether were
put to death by orders of the vindictive and infamous
Browne. Lieutenant William Stevenson, one of Ferguson's
corps, in writing from Gilbert Town, on the twenty-fifth of
September, probably gave vent to the prevalent feelings of
Ferguson's men when he said, referring to the pursuit and
capture of Clarke's men: "Several of whom they imme-
diately hanged, and have a great many more yet to hang.
We have now got a method that will soon put an end to the
rebellion in a short ti?ne, by hanging' every man that has
taken -protection, and is found acting against us.*" Hang-
ing men "immediately" after they were made prisoners,
plainly implies that no opportunity was given to prove or
disprove whether they had ever taken protection or not.
But this practice of immediate hanging was simply carrying
into effect Lord Cornwallis' inhuman orders to Cruger and
Balfour.

Ferguson was quite as anxious to waylay the remnant
of Clarke's partisans as were Cruger and Browne to have
him do so. It is not improbable, that in furloughing so
many of his Tory recruits, as he had recently done, to visit

* Almon's Remembrancer for 1781, xi, 280-81.

AND ITS HEROES. 201

their homes, Colonel Ferguson may have had in view, that
their scattered localities might enable them to obtain early
notice of the approach of Clarke's fugitives, and promptly
apprise him of it. Thus watching and delaying in order
to entrap the Georgia patriots, proved his own speedy de-
struction. When the two deserters from Sevier's regiment
brought him intelligence of his threatened danger from the
mountaineers, he was not slow to realize his situation. He
sent out expresses in all directions, strongly appealing to
the Royalists to hasten to his standard with all possible ex-
pedition, and to render him every assistance in their power
in this critical emergency.

He evidently had a triple object in view by taking this
circuitous course. He hoped still, peradventure, to inter-
cept Clarke ; he anxiouly desired to strengthen his own
force by re-inforcements, and to collect on his route his fur-
loughed South Carolina Loyalists, and prevent their being
cut up in detail ; and he attempted, moreover, to play off a
piece of strategy, which, if successful, would relieve him
of the danger of too close a proximity to these swarming
mountaineers — by misleading them as to the objective point
of his retreat, and thus indulging the hope that they might
make a dash, by the nearest route, to intercept him before
his expected arrival at Ninety Six. Had Ferguson, with
his three or four days' start, taken the most direct easterly
course to Charlotte, he could easily have accomplished his
purpose, as it was only some sixty miles distant in a straight
line, and could not have exceeded eighty by the then zig-zag
routes of travel.

Leaving Gilbert Town on the twenty-seventh of
September, Ferguson moved to the Green river region
in quest of Clarke. Three days later, while in camp
at James Step's place, receiving the alarming intelli-
gence of the rapid approach of the Back Water men, in
strong force, he promptly notified Lord Cornwallis of his
danger, and of the consequent necessity of his hastening

202 KING'S MOUNTAIN

towards his Lordship's head-quarters ; and probably hinting
that a re-inforcement or escort adequate to the occasion,
would prove a most opportune occurrence. This dispatch
was confided to Abram Collins and Peter Quinn, who
resided on the borders of the two Carolinas, and were well
acquainted with the route. His injunctions to them were to
make the utmost expedition, and deliver the letter as soon
as possible. They took the most direct course, crossing
Second Broad river at Webb's Ford ; thence by way of
what is now Mooresboro to First Broad river at Stice's
Shoal ; and thence on to Collins' Mill on Buffalo, when
they bore south-east to King's Mountain. Proceeding on
to Alexander Henry's, a good Whig, they disguised their
true character and mission, and there obtained refresh-
ments. Immediately renewing their journey, with undue
haste, excited the suspicions of Mr. Henry's family, that
they were engaged in some mischief boding no good to the
public welfare. Mr. Henry's sons, inspired by a patriotic
feeling, proposed to follow and apprehend them ; and pur-
sued so closely on their trail, that the miscreants got wind
of it in the vicinity of the present Bethel Presbyterian
Church, and secreted themselves by day, and traveled
stealthily by night, crossing the Catawba at Mason's Ferry.
Thus was the dispatch delayed, so that it did not reach
Cornwallis till the morning of the seventh of October — the
day of Ferguson's final overthrow.* These details are
interesting as showing the cause of Cornwallis' failure to
re-inforce Ferguson in his time of peril and need.

In addition to this dispatch to Lord Cornwallis for suc-
cor, Ferguson also wrote on the thirtieth of September to

* General Joseph Graham's King's Mountain narrative gives this statement in brief;
many of the particulars were furnished for this work by Colonel J. R. Logan, of Cleveland
County North Carolina. "Collins," adds Colonel Logan, " after the war, entered very valu-
able lands on Buffalo Creek in this County. He w,ns often in jeopardy on account of his noto-
rious counterfeiting practices, and frequently in jail ; but always had friends enough to
help him out. He died in poverty near Stice's Shoal on First Broad river. Peter Quinn
led a worthier life, and became the progenitor of very numerous descendants— some of
them, in this County, and in the West, highly respectable people."

AND ITS HEROES. 203

Colonel Cruger, commanding at Ninety Six, calling for a
large militia re-inforcement — how large is not stated, but
several regiments ; when Cruger replied that there were only
half that number * all told. And as a ruse, Ferguson gave
out word, that he was going to Ninety Six, and to give coun-
tenance to the deception, started in that direction, making
quite a detour southwardly from a direct course to Charlotte.
The fond hope of capturing Clarke and his intrepid fol-
owers was, it would seem, almost an infatuation with
Ferguson. He could not bear the thought of leaving the
country without accomplishing this important object, if it
were possible to do so. He had his scouts out in the direc-
tion of the mountains, and was vigilant in seeking information
Irom the quarter where Clarke was supposed to be directing
his course. On Sunday, the first of October, while beating
about the country, he visited Bay lis Earle's, on North
Pacolet, a dozen miles south-west of Denard's Ford.
Captain William Green and his company made up a part of
this force ; and while at Earle's, they killed a steer,
destroyed four or five hundred dozen sheaves of oats, and
plundered at their pleasure. \ They then marched to
Denard's Ford, \ making their camp there for the night.
While at this Ford, the old crossing of Broad river, half a
mile below the present Twitty's Ford, and some eight miles
from Gilbert Town, Ferguson issued the following energetic
appeal — apparently almost a wail of despair — addressed
" to the inhabitants of North Carolina," and, doubtless,
similar ones to the Loyalists of South Carolina also :

* Ramsey's Tennessee, 242.

f MS. letter of Baylis Earle, September nth, 1814, to Major John Lewis and Jonathan
Hampton, communicated by Hon. W. P. Bynum.

J MS. letters of Hon. W. J. T. Miller. Dr. J. B. Twitty, W. L. Twitty, A. D. K. Miller,
and Colonel J. R. Logan fix the locality of Denard's Ford as near the present Twitty's
Ford ; and the venerable Samuel Twitty, a colored man, now eighty-six years old, and
raised in that neighborhood, says the old ford, half a mile below the present Twitty's
Ford and under a large oak tree that long stood there, was often pointed out to him in his
boyhood as Ferguson's crossing place. The MS. McDowell-Vance narrative says Ferguson
crossed at Twitty's Ford, which practically confirms these traditions. The Virginia
Gazette and the old land records of Rutherford County determine the orthography of the
name Denard, instead of Donard, as Wheeler has it in his History of North Carolina.
Allaire's Diary also confirms this mode of spelling the name.

204 KING 'S MO UNTAIN

" Denard's Ford, Broad River, }

Try on County, October i, 1780. )

"Gentlemen: — Unless you wish to be eat up by an in-
undation of barbarians, who have begun by murdering an
unarmed son before the aged father, and afterwards lopped
oft' his arms, and who by their shocking cruelties and irregu-
larities, give the best proof of their cowardice and want of
discipline ; I say, if you wish to be pinioned, robbed, and
murdered, and see your wives and daughters, in four days,
abused by the dregs of mankind — in short, if you wish or
deserve to live, and bear the name of men, grasp your
arms in a moment and run to camp.

44 The Back Water men have crossed the mountains;
McDowell, Hampton, Shelby, and Cleveland are at their
head, so that you know what you have to depend upon.
If you choose to be degraded forever and ever by a
set of mongrels, say so at once, and let your women turn
their backs upon you, and look out for real men to protect
them.

"Pat. Ferguson, Major yist Regiment." *

An amusing incident occurred in this neighborhood. The
British had captured Andrew Miller, and were conveying
him along with them. Lewis Musick, who had just returned
from the unfortunate attack on Augusta, joined Anthony
Twitty, an elder brother of the William Twitty who con-
ducted himself so bravely in the defence of Graham's Fort,
as formerly related ; and being well mounted, they conclu-
ded to take a scout, and see what discoveries they could
make. Coming to the main road, it seemed to them as
though the whole line of travel for more than a mile was
alive with Red Coats, Ferguson and his dragoons among

* Virginia Gazette, November n, 1780; Wheeler's North Carolina, ii, 103; Ramsey's
Tennessee, 233. It is exceedingly doubtful if any such barbarities were perpetrated upon
the Tories as Ferguson's proclamation asserts. It must have been a figment of the imagi-
nation, invented for effect.

AND ITS HEROES. 205

them. The Whig scouts had a good view of them, and as
they passed David Miller's place, one of the enemy and a
negro remained behind, the latter going to the spring
to catch his horse. The soldier — or Red Coat, as
Twitty preferred to call him — proved to be Ferguson's
cook ; and, it seems, was completing the preparation of
a savory meal, to take along for the Colonel's breakfast,
who had been too busy in getting his troops started to enjoy
his morning's repast. Twitty and Musick retired behind a
field, where they hitched their horses in some bushes, de-
termined to get ahead of the two loiterers and capture them.
Beside the road, there was a fallen tree, the top of which
was yet thickly covered with leaves, where they secreted
themselves, awaiting the advance of the supposed officer
and his servant. The negro, in about fifteen minutes, came
dashing along some fifty yards in front. Twitty was to
rush out and take the negro, while Musick was to prevent
the Red Coat in the rear from shooting him ; and the colored
fellow was seized so suddenly that he made no defence.
Musick demanded the Red Coat to surrender, who seeming
unwilling to do so, Twitty leveled his gun at him, with a
severe threat if he did not instantly obey. At this moment
the negro put spurs to his horse and escaped.

But the white captive was dismounted, and hurried oft'
half a mile or more, and talking loudly by the way, as if to
attract the attention of pursuers, he was plainly admonished
that another utterance would forfeit his life. After that, he
was quiet enough. Once out of danger of being overtaken,
the Whig scouts examined their prisoner, and ascertained
that he was Ferguson's cook — not so much of a dignitary,
after all, as they had supposed, and learned that Ferguson
was then on the lookout to intercept Colonel Clarke and his
men on their retreat from Augusta. Twitty and his com-
panion paroled the soldier-cook, retaining the captured meal,
which they appropriated to their own use, and Ferguson lost
his breakfast.

206 KING 'S MO UNTAIN

Before releasing their prisoner, however, the Whig
scouts found means to pen a hurried note to Ferguson, in-
forming him, that when they ascertained that the person
they had taken was his cook, they concluded that the British
commander could not well dispense with so important a
personage, and trtey- accordingly sent him back, trusting
that he wrould restore him to his butlership. Overtaking
the Colonel, the cook delivered the note, cursing his eyes
if he had not been taken prisoner by a couple of Rebel
buggers, as he termed them, and proceeded to curse and
denounce them at a terrible rate. Ferguson quietly re-
strained his temper, and told him he was wrong to speak of
them so harshly, as they had used him well, and permitted
him to return after a very brief captivity. Thus Andrew
Miller, who was present, subsequently reported the inter-
view.*

From Denard's Ford, Ferguson and his troops, accord-
ing to Allaire's Diary, marched on Monday afternoon, the
second, only four miles, where they formed a line of
action, and lay on their arms all night. But the enemy they
so confidently expected, did not make their appearance.
Much precious time was thus spent to no purpose. All
this, under ordinary circumstances, would indicate in-
decision ; but the British commander, it seems, still lingered,
hoping to intercept Clarke and his Georgia patriots, and
delayed for the return of his men whom he had furloughed
to visit their families, and the hoped-for militia from the
region of Ninety Six, and, after crossing Broad river at
Denard's, purposely bore off to the left, instead of continu-
ing on the direct road south to Green river en route for
either Cowpens or Ninety Six, hoping thereby to elude the
vigilance of the Back Water men.

* MS. narrative of Anthony Twitty, written in September, 1832 ; MS. letters of Drs. T.
B. and W. L. Twitty, on authority of Mrs. Jane Toms and others. Twitty was born in
Chester County, Pennsylvania, November 29th, 1745, and was much engaged in scouting
service during the Revolution. Judge W. P. Bynum, of Charlotte, North Carolina, kindly
communicated Twitty's MS. narrative.

AND ITS HEROES. 207

It is possible, moreover, that Ferguson might have felt the
necessity of feeling his way cautiously out of his difficulties ;
that while evading the mountaineers on the one hand, he
should not run recklessly into other dangers, ^ might be
equally as formidable ; for Lord Cornwallis had, on the
twenty-third of September, apprised him that Colonel
Davie's party of Whig cavalry had marched against him,
which Ferguson's apprehensions, and Tory fears, may have
magnified into a much larger body than eighty dragoons.
Nothing, however, was gained by these tardy operations ;
and, in these fruitless efforts at strategy, Ferguson, had he
realized it, might have exclaimed, with the Roman digni-
tary, 'kI have lost a day!" For he could have marched
from Denard's Ford to the neighborhood north of Cowpens
from sunrise to sunset, instead of consuming two days in its
accomplishment.

Allaire's Diary informs us, that on the third, Ferguson
marched six miles to Camp's Ford of Second Broad river,
thence six farther to Armstrong's, on Sandy Run, where the
troops refreshed ; then, as they reckoned distance, pushed
on seven miles to Buffalo creek, a mile beyond which they
reached Tate's plantation — making twenty miles this day,
the route being north of main Broad river. At Tate's,
Ferguson tarried two full days, probably awaiting in-
telligence as to the movements of the Whigs, which he
doubtless received on the evening of the fifth, for the army
renewed its march at four o'clock on Friday morning, the
sixth. During this day Colonel Ferguson sent the following
dispatch to Lord Cornwallis, without date ; but the con-
necting facts fix the time as here indicated :

' 'My Lord : — A doubt does not remain with regard to
the intelligence T sent your Lordship. They are since
joined by Clarke and Sumter * — of course are become an

* A small squad of Clarke's men did, about this time, join the mountain men: and Sum-
ter's force, under Colonel Lacey. soon after effected a junction. Ferguson, probably from
his spies and scouts, learned of these parties and their intentions.

208 KING 'S MO UNTAIN

object of some consequence. Happny their leaders are
obliged to feed their followers wilh such hopes, and so to
flatter them with accounts of our weakness and fear, that,
if necessary, I should hope for success against them myself;
but numbers compared, that must be but doubtful.

"I am on my march towards you, by a road leading
from Cherokee Ford, north of King's Mountain. Three
or four hundred good soldiers, part dragoons, would finish
the business. Something must be dorle soon. This is their
last push in this quarter, etc.

"Patrick Ferguson."*

It is evident from this dispatch, that Ferguson, when
penning it, had no other design than to march resolutely
forward and join his Lordship at Charlotte. Had he then
in contemplation the taking post on King's Mountain, and
there awaiting succor, and there deciding the mastery with
his tireless pursuers, he would likely have indicated it in
his letter. So he simply said : "I am on my march towards
you, by a road leading north of King's Mountain;" and,
at the same time, tacitly plead for a re-inforcement, appar-
ently aware by this time, that though he had succeeded in
his strategic effort to throw the Back Water men off his
trail, they were yet doggedly pursuing him.

Lieutenant Allaire says it was sixteen miles from Tate's
place to "Little King's Mountain." Ferguson marched
up the old Cherokee Ferry road, between the waters of
Buffalo and King's creeks, crossing the western branch of
this latter stream where Whisnant's mill is now situated ;
thence on the old Quarry road to main King's creek; and
soon after crossing which, he bore off to King's Mountain.
Or, as Reverend Robert Lathan describes it, Ferguson
"pushed on up the ridge road between King's and Buffrlo
creeks, until he came to the forks, near Whitaker's Station,
on the present Air-Line railroad. There he took the right
prong, leading across King's creek, through a pass in the

♦Almon's Remembrancer fox 1781, xi, 280; Tarleton's Campaigns, quarto edition, 193.

UBRAfflf

OF THE

UNIYERS'TY OF ILLINOIS

AND ITS HEROES. 209

mountain, and on in the direction of Yorkville. Here, a short
distance after crossing the creek, on the right of the road,
about two hundred and fifty yards from the pass,"* he came
to King's Mountain. Ferguson's dispatch to Cornwallis,
already cited, and written during the day before the battle,
shows conclusively, that this mountain bore its prefix of
" King's" at that time,f and that its subsequent occupancy
by the King's troops had nothing to do in giving to it this
appellation.

That portion of it where the action was fought, has little
or no claim to the distinction of a mountain. The King's
Mountain range is about sixteen miles in length, extending
generally from the north-east, in North Carolina, in a south-
westerly course, sending out lateral spurs in various direc-
tions. The principal elevation in this range, a sort of lofty,
rocky tower, called The Pinnacle, is some six miles dis-
tant from the battle ground. That portion of the oblong
hill or stony ridge, now historically famous, is in York
County, South Carolina, about a mile and a half south of
the North Carolina line. It is some six hundred yards long,
and about two hundred and fifty from one base across to the
other ; or from sixty to one hundred and twenty wide on
the top, tapering to the South — "so narrow," says Mills'
Statistics, "that a man standing on it may be shot from
either side." Its summit was some sixty feet above the
level of the surrounding country.

Ferguson's observing eye was attracted to this com-
manding eminence ; and regarding it as a fit camping
place, he concluded to tarry there. This was on the even-
ing of the sixth of October. He apparently awaited the
expected return of furloughed parties of Loyalists under
Major Gibbs and others ; and he fondly hoped, too, to be
soon re-inforced by Tarleton, and the militia from the dis-

* Pamphlet Historical Sketch of the Battle of King s Mountain, Yorkville, South
Carolina, 1880.

t " It took its name " says Moultrie's Memoirs. " from one King, who lived at the foot
of the mount with his family." The name of King's Creek had also the same origin.

210 KING 'S MO UNTAIN

trict of Ninety Six. Rejoined by his Loyalist forces, and
strengthened by re-inforcements, he no doubt flattered
himself with gaining a crushing victory over the Back
Water men, whom he never failed to belittle, and whom
he heartily despised. He had for months untiringly
drilled the men under his banner ; his detachments under
Patrick Moore, Innes and Dunlap, had met with
repeated disasters, which he anxiously desired a suit-
able opportunity to retrieve before joining his Lordship
at Charlotte. He prided himself in his skill in the use of
fire-arms, and his success in inspiring others with something
of his own feelings of invincibility ; and, above all things,
he coveted a fitting occasion to put to the test his long and
patiently drilled Loyalists, as soon as he could do so with
a reasonable hope of success. This hope he saw in
the expected "three or four hundred good soldiers — part
dragoons" — hinting, doubtless, at Tarleton's Legion cav-
alry, even if the expected militia should fail him ; when he
could, in his own estimation, do up the business for the
daring Back Water men, and extricate himself from his
impending danger. Cherishing such hopes, he thought it
unwise to retire too precipitately to Charlotte. Such a
retreat might betray signs of fear — suggesting, perhaps,
that he shirked the opportunity he had long pretended to
court, and he might thereby lose the chance of a life-time
of distinguishing himself on the glorious field of Mars, and
winning undying honors and fame from his King and
country. These visions of glory were too tempting, and he
yielded to their seductive influences. "The situation of
King's Mountain," said Arthur McFall, one of his Loyalist
followers, "was so pleasing that he concluded to take post
there, stoutly affirming that he would be able to destroy or
capture any force the Whigs could bring against him . " * "So
confident," says Shelby, " was Ferguson in the strength of
his position, that he declared that the Almighty could not

*MS. letter of Wm. A. McCall, to whom McFall made the statement.

AND ITS HEROES. 211

drive him from it." * The McDowell-Vance narrative
states, that Ferguson declared, that "he was on King's
Mountain, that he was king of that mountain, and God
Almighty could not drive him from it." This impious
boast was doubtless made to encourage his confiding fol-
lowers.

There was a spring on the north-west side of the moun-
tain, one of the sources of Clark's Fork of Bullock's creek,
from which a needful supply of water could be obtained,
though not very convenient ; but the country, wild as it
then was, was unable to furnish anything like the necessary
amount of provisions requisite for such a body of men. It
was a stony spot, where lines could not easily be thrown
up ; there was, however, an abundance of wood on the hill
with which to form abatis, and defend his camp ; but Fergu-
son took none of these ordinary military precautions, and
only placed his baggage-wagons along the north-eastern
part of the mountain, in the neighborhood of his head-
quarters, so as to form some slight appearance of protection.
And thus he remained nearly a whole day, and as Mills
states, "inactive and exposed," f awaiting the return of his
furloughed men, and the expected succors ; but these anx-

♦Shelby's narrative in American Review. December 1848. corroborated by Todd's mem-
oir of Shelby ; Colonel Hill's MS. statement; MS. notes of conversations with James
Sevier and John Spelts, both King's Mountain men and General Lenoir's narrative.

Since this chapter was put in type, George H. Moore, LL. D., of the Lenox Library, has
called the author's attention to, and kindly loaned him a copy of a rare, if not hitherto un-
known pamphlet. Biographical Sketch, or Memoir of Lieutenant Colonel Patrick Ferguson,
by Adam Ferguson, LL D., Edinburgh. 1817. in which this paragraph, relative to Colonel
Ferguson's retreat occurs : " He dispatched a messenger to Lord Cornwallis, to inform his
Lordship of what had passed,— of the enemies he had to deal with.— of the route he had
taken to avoid them ; earnestly expressing his wish, that he might be enabled to cover a
country in which there were so many well affected inhabitants ; adding that for this purpose,
he should halt at King's Mountain, hoping that he might be there supported by a detach-
ment from his Lordship, and saved the necessity of any further retreat. This letter having
been intercepted, gave notice to the enemy of the place where Ferguson was to be found :
and though a duplicate sent on the following day was received by Lord Cornwallis, it came
too late to prevent the disaster which followed."

Jf such a dispatch was sent to Lord Cornwallis, it must have been written after
Ferguson had arrived at Kings Mountain, and concluded to take post there. Certain it is,
that Ferguson sent several dispatches to Lord Cornwallis after he commenced his retreat
from Gilbert Town, the burthen of which evidently was to express his great anxiety for a
re-inforcement.

t Statistics 0/ South Carolina, 1826, p. 778.

212 KING 'S MO UNTAIN

ious hopes were doomed to bitter disappointment. Instead
of the coveted re-inforcements, as the sequel will show, came
the hated Back Water men, worse, if possible, than were
the Mecklenburg hornets to Cornwallis and his army.

His infatuation for military glory is the only explanation
that can be given for Ferguson's conduct in lingering at
King's Mountain. When he left Green river, he knew
full well that the mountaineers, in strong force, were press-
ing hard upon him, and he marched towards Charlotte,
but not expeditiously. He knew, too, that the Back
Water men had, by their various unions, become " of some
consequence," as he frankly admitted in his dispatch to
Lord Cornwallis. Concluding, therefore, that "something
must be done," as he expressed it, to check the onward
progress of the mountain men — that this was "their last
push in this quarter," he was not slow in properly esti-
mating the strength and prowess of his enemy ; and
keenly realized his pressing need for "three or four
hundred good soldiers," if he hoped to meet and van-
quish the coming horde of Back Water "barbarians."
The possible failure of his Lordship to receive his dis-
patches, seems not to have entered into Ferguson's calcula-
tions ; and he did not fully realize the dangers besetting
him — the meshes with which the patriots were preparing to
entrap him. He knew, indeed, that " the Campbells were
coming;" but the haughty Scotsman relied this time too
much on the pluck and luck which had hitherto attended
him. In his own expressive language, a direful " inunda-
tion " was impending. Unprepared, as he was, to meet it,
ordinary military prudence would have dictated that he
should make good his retreat to Charlotte without a mo-
ment's delay. Within some thi^-five miles of his Lord-
ship's camp, he could easily have accomplished the dis-
tance in a few hours ; yet he lingered two days at Tate's,
and one on King's Mountain, deluded with the hope of
gaining undying laurels, when Fate, the fickle goddess, had
only in store for him defeat, disaster, and death.

AND ITS HEROES. 213

CHAPTER XI

October, 1780.

Uncertainty of Ferguson s Route of Retreat. — A small Party of Georgians
join the Mountain Men. — Whig forces over-estiinated. — Report of a
patriot Spy from Ferguson's Camp. — Williams' attempt to Mislead
the Mountaineers. — Lacey sets them Right. — The South Carolinians"
treatment of Williams. — Selecting the fittest Men at Green river to
pursue Ferguson. — Arrival at the Cowpens. — The Tory, Saunders
— his ignorance of Ferguson, his Beeves and his Corn. — Story of
Kerr, the cripple Spy. — Gilmer, the cunning Scout, duping the
Tories. — The Cowpens Council, further selection of Pursuers, and
their Number. — Night March to Cherokee Ford. — Straying of Camp-
bell1 s Men. — Groundless Fears of an A?nbuscade. — Crossing of
Broad river. — Stormy Time. — faded Condition of Men a?id Norses.
— Tory Informatio7i. — Gilmer s Adventures.- — Plan of Attacking
Ferguson. — Colonel Graham Retires. — Chronicle assigned Command
of the Lincohi Men. — Young Ponder Taken. — Ferguson' 's Dress. —
Pressing towards the Enemy s Camp.

Leaving Ferguson, for the time being, at his chosen
position on King's Mountain, we will return to the moun-
taineers, whom we left encamped, on the night of the fourth
of October, near the mouth of Cane creek, in the neighbor-
hood of Gilbert Town. The game they had been seeking
had fled. It was generally reported that Ferguson had
gone some fifty or sixty miles southwardly, and later assur-
ances from two men, represented that he had directed his
course to Ninety Six, well-nigh a hundred miles away.*
The defences of that fort had been recently repaired and
strengthened, \ and it was strongly garrisoned, it was said,
with four hundred regulars and some militia. The proba-
bility was that it would resist an assault by small arms, and

* Moore's Life of Lacey, 16.

f Tarleton's Campaigns, 169, 183.

214 KING 'S MO UNTAIN

the mountaineers had none others ; but they were not to be
thwarted in their purpose, for they had made many a sacri-
fice of personal comfort, and had traveled many a weary
mile, in order to vanquish, if possible, the great Tory
leader of the South. They, however, learned Ferguson's
real strength, and were determined to pursue him to Ninety
Six, or wherever else he might see fit to go. Here, before
renewing their march, the mountain men killed some beeves
for a supply of fresh food.

While Colonel Clarke, of Georgia, and his followers,
were retreating from that unhappy country, with their fami-
lies, and were aiming to cross the mountains to the friendly
Nolachucky settlements, they were met by Captain Edward
Hampton, who informed them that Campbell, Shelby,
Sevier, and McDowell were collecting a force with which
to attack Ferguson. Major William Candler and Captain
Johnston, of Clarke's party, filed off with thirty men and
formed a junction with the mountaineers, near Gilbert
Town.* Not very long thereafter, at what was called
Probit's place, on Broad river, Major Chronicle, with a party
of twenty men from the South Fork of Catawba, joined the
mountain men.f Every such addition to their numbers was
hailed with delight ; and the whole force was, for purposes
of policy, greatly exaggerated by the leaders, to inspire both
their own men and the enemy with the idea of their great
strength and invincibility.^

*McCall's History of Georgia/\\, 336. McCall mistakes in stating that Colonel Clarke
and his Georgia fugitives retired to Kentucky for the safety of their families. That is of
itself improbable; but a MS. letter of Clarke to General Sumter, of October 29th, 1780.
asserts that it was to the'Nolachucky settlement they repaired.

f Vance-McDowell narrative, and MS. letter of R. C Gillam, of Asheville, North
Carolina, to Dr. J. H. Logan, communicating an interview with the venerable Robert
Henry, one of Chronicle's men.

\ MS. statement of General Joseph McDowell and Colonel David Vance, preserved by
the late Hon. Robert Henry, of Buncombe county, North Carolina.

Supposing the numbers reported correctly, the whole force assembled for the King's
Mountain expedition did not exceed eighteen hundred and forty men, viz : Campbell's
force, 400; Shelby's, 240; Sevier's, 240; McDowell's, 160, increased in Burke to probably
180; Cleveland and Winston's, 350; Candler's, 30; Lacey's, 270; Williams', 70; and Ham-
bright's, including Chronicle's, 60. Yet they were represented as numbering three thou-
sand by Major. Tate, who was in the action. See General Davidson's letter, October 10th,

^p -

ITS HEROES. 215

te Ferguson had taken, they

nd Broad river, at Denard's

st the trail of the fugitives,

they did not happen to

couts, lest any parties

? country, and take

nas Lankford, of

ind's regiment,

river, by a

wounding

/ he Tories

/ Martin for

dead. At lengtn recuvu^b .__. \ded soldier

managed to reach the camp of his friends. The shot had

fortunately been broken of their force by his hat, and only

penetrated through the skin of his temples, and John Death-

eridge succeeded in picking them all out of the wound.

Unfit for further service at that time, Martin was conveyed

home.*

1780. Gordon's American War says, they "amounted to near three thousand; " and this
was copied into the first edition of Marshall's Life of Washington. In Steadman's Ameri-
can War, the number is given as "upward of three thousand." Governor Shelby, in his
American Review narrative, states that "a Whig prisoner taken by Lord Cornwallis repre-
sented to him that the patriot force numbered three thousand riflemen ; " and other reports
to the British at this period made the number still larger. Judge Johnson, in his Life of
Greene, has magnified it to "near six thousand."

There is, after all, some reason to suppose that the Whig force was over-estimated in
the official report of Campbell, Shelby, and Cleveland. Campbell's regiment, according to
Ensign Robert Campbell, one of the officers of that corps, amounted to "near four hun-
dredf" and Shelby's and Sevier's together to only three hundred. The MS. account hereto-
fore cited, written by one of Campbell's men, whose name is unknown, states that Shelby
and Sevier's united force numbered three hundred and fifty, and McDowell's one hundred
and fifty; that Williams', the South Carolinians, and the few Georgia troops, amounted to
about three hundied and fifty; placing Campbell's at four hundred and fifty, and Cleve-
land and Winston's at four hundred — making a total of sixteen hundred. Colonel Arthur
Campbell's manuscript only gives the number of McDowell's party at one hundred and
fifty. In Shelby's narrative, in the American Review, it is stated that the Williams party
numbered "from two to three hundred refugees" which, united with the others, "made a
muster roll of about sixteen hundred." It was, perhaps, this total number that Major
Tate reported to General Davidson, and which the General misunderstood as the selected
portion for the battle.

*MS. pension statement of Thomas Shipp. John Martin, one of the heroic soldiers of
that part of Surry County, now constituting Stokes, North Carolina, was born in Essex
County, Virginia, in 1756; and, in 1768, his parents settled near the Saura Mountain, in
Stokes. During the Revolution, Martin was very active, sometimes serving as a private

214 KING 'S MO UNTA T

the mountaineers had none others
thwarted in their purpose, for t1
fice of personal comfort, ar
mile, in order to vanqu:
leader of the South,
real strength, and v
Six, or wherever
renewing their
for a supply

While Cc
were retreatin

lies, and were aiming iu u^o u.v, x*

Nolachucky settlements, they were met by Captain Edward
Hampton, who informed them that Campbell, Shelby,
Sevier, and McDowell were collecting a force with which
to attack Ferguson. Major William Candler and Captain
Johnston, of Clarke's party, filed off with thirty men and
formed a junction with the mountaineers, near Gilbert
Town.* Not very long thereafter, at what was called
Probit's place, on Broad river, Major Chronicle, with a party
of twenty men from the South Fork of Catawba, joined the
mountain men.f Every such addition to their numbers was
hailed with delight ; and the whole force was, for purposes
of policy, greatly exaggerated by the leaders, to inspire both
their own men and the enemy with the idea of their great
strength and invincibility.;];

*McCall's History of Georgia,>\\, 336. McCall mistakes in stating that Colonel Clarke
and his Georgia fugitives retired to Kentucky for the safety of their families. That is of
itself improbable; but a MS. letter of Clarke to General Sumter, of October 29th, 1780,
asserts that it was to the'Nolachucky settlement they repaired.

t Vance-McDowell narrative, and MS. letter of R. C. Gillam, of Asheville, North
Carolina, to Dr. J. H. Logan, communicating an interview with the venerable Robert
Henry, one of Chronicle's men.

\ MS. statement of General Joseph McDowell and Colonel David Vance, preserved by
the late Hon. Robert Henry, of Buncombe county. North Carolina.

AND ITS HEROES. 215

Pursuing the same route Ferguson had taken, they
passed over Mountain creek and Broad river, at Denard's
Ford, when they seem to have lost the trail of the fugitives,
whose place of detour to the left they did not happen to
discover. They constantly sent out scouts, lest any parties
of Tories might be roving through the country, and take
them unawares. John Martin and Thomas Lankford, of
Captain Joseph Cloud's company, of Cleveland's regiment,
while out spying, were waylaid near Broad river, by a
party in ambush, who fired at them, severely wounding
Martin in the head. Lankford escaped unhurt. The Tories
captured their horses and Martin's gun, leaving Martin for
dead. At length recovering his senses, the wounded soldier
managed to reach the camp of his friends. The shot had
fortunately been broken of their force by his hat, and only
penetrated through the skin of his temples, and John Death-
eridge succeeded in picking them all out of the wound.
Unfit for further service at that time, Martin was conveyed
home.*

1780. Gordon's American War says, they "amounted to near three thousand; " and this
was copied into the first edition of Marshall's Life of Washington. In Steadman's Ameri-
can War, the number is given as " upward of three thousand." Governor Shelby, in his
American Review narrative, states that "a Whig prisoner taken by Lord Cornwallis repre-
sented to him that the patriot force numbered three thousand riflemen ; " and other reports
to the British at this period made the number still larger. Judge Johnson, in his Life of
Greene, has magnified it to "near six thousand.''

There is, after all, some reason to suppose that the Whig force was over-estimated in
the official report of Campbell, Shelby, and Cleveland. Campbell's regiment, according to
Ensign Robert Campbell, one of the officers of that corps, amounted to "near four hun-
dredf" and Shelby's and Sevier's together to only three hundred. The MS. account hereto-
fore cited, written by one of Campbell's men, whose name is unknown, states that Shelby
and Sevier's united force numbered three hundred and fifty, and McDowell's one hundred
and fifty; that Williams', the South Carolinians, and the few Georgia troops, amounted to
about three hundied and fifty; placing Campbell's at four hundred and fifty, and Cleve-
land and Winston's at four hundred— making a total of sixteen hundred. Colonel Arthur
Campbell's manuscript only gives the number of McDowell's party at one hundred and
fifty. In Shelby's narrative, in the American Review, it is stated that the Williams party
numbered "from two to three hundred refugees" which, united with the others, " made a
muster-roll of about sixteen hundred." It was, perhaps, this total number that Major
Tate reported to General Davidson, and which the General misunderstood as the selected
portion for the battle.

*MS. pension statement of Thomas Shipp. John Martin, one of the heroic soldiers of
that part of Purry County, now constituting Stokes, North Carolina, was born in Essex
County, Virginia, in 1756; and, in 1768, his parents settled near the Saura Mountain, in
Stokes. During the Revolution, Martin was very active, sometimes serving as a private

216 KING '$ MO UNTAIN

The mountain men, after crossing Broad river, went on
some two and a half miles, to what is now Alexander's Ford
of Green river, accomplishing not over twelve or thirteen miles
this day, the fifth of October. Many of the horses had become
weak, crippled, and exhausted, and not a few of the tramp-
ers foot-sore and weary. Their progress was provokingly
slow, and Campbell and his fellow leaders began to realize
it. They determined to select their best men, best horses,
and best rifles ; and, with this chosen corps, pursue Fergu-
son unremittingly, and overtake him, if possible, before, he
could reach any post, or receive any re-inforcements. The
Whig chiefs were not a little perplexed as to the course of
Ferguson's retreat, and the objective point he had in view ;
and some of the men began to exhibit signs of getting
somewhat discouraged. But all doubts and perplexities
were soon happily dissipated, as we shall presently learn.

While Ferguson was encamped at Tate's place, an old
gentleman called on him, who disguised the object of his
visit. The next morning, October fifth, after traveling all
night, some twenty miles or more, Ferguson's visitor, well
known to many of the troops as a person of veracity,
arrived at the camp of the South Carolinians at Flint Hill,
and gave the following information : that he had been
several days with Colonel Ferguson, and had, by his plausi-
ble address, succeeded in impressing the British commander

volunteer, and sometimes as a lieutenant, in fighting the British and Tories. In February,
1776, he served a tour under Colonel Joseph Williams against the Scotch-Tories, at Cross
creek, who were defeated just before their arrival; and in the fall of that year, he went on
General Rutherford's expedition against the Cherokees. In a skirmish with the Tories,
he wounded and captured one of their leaders, Horton, who died shortly afterwards. In
July, 1780, he went in pursuit of the fleeing Tory leader. Colonel Samuel Bryan, and par-
ticipated in the fight at Colson's, under Colonel William Lee Davidson. But for the griev-
ous wound he received near Broad river, he would have shared in the dangers and glories
of King's Mountain. He was stationed, in September, 1781. at Guilford, and shortly after
at Wdmington, where he heard the joyful news of Cornwallis' surrender.

After the war, he became a colonel in the militia ; in 1798 and 1799. ne served as a mem-
ber in the House of Commons; and was long a magistrate, presiding for thirty years in the
County Court. He was a man of infinite humor and irony, possessing a keen perception
of the ludicrous. Several characteristic anecdotes are preserved of him in Wheeler's
History of North Carolina. He died at his home, near the Saura Mountain, April 5th,
1823, leaving many children to inherit his virtues. The late General John Gray Bynum
was his grandson, as is the Hon. William P. Bynum, of Charlotte.

AND ITS HEROES. 217

with the belief that his aged visitor was a great friend to
the Royal cause; that Ferguson, the evening before, had
sent an express to Lord Cornwallis, at Charlotte, announc-
ing that he knew full well that the Back Water men were
in hot pursuit ; that he should select his ground, and boldly
meet them ; that he defied God Almighty himself and all
the Rebels out of h — 1 to overcome him ; that he had
completed the business of his mission, in collecting and
training the friends of the King in that quarter, so that he
could now bring a re-inforcement of upwards of a thousand
men to the Royal army ; but as the intervening distance,
thirty to forty miles to Charlotte, was through a d — d rebel-
lious country, and as the Rebels were such cowardly rascals,
that instead of meeting him in an open field, they would
resort to ambuscades, he would, therefore, be glad if his
Lordship would send Tarleton with his horse and infantry
to escort him to head-quarters.*

During the day, Williams and Brandon were missed
from the camp, and Colonel Hill was informed that they
had taken a pathway that led to the mountains. After sun-
set they were seen to return. Colonel Hill, who had been
on the watch for them, now inquired where they had been,
as they had not been seen the greater part of the day. At
first, they appeared unwilling to give any satisfactory infor-
mation. Colonel Hill insisting that they should, like honor-
able men , impart whatever knowledge they may have gained,
for the good of the whole, Williams at length acknowl-
edged that they had visited the mountain men on their
march south from the neighborhood of Gilbert Town, and
had found them a fine set of fellows, well armed. When asked
further by Colonel Hill where they were to form a junction
with them, he answered, "At the Old Iron Works, on Law-
son's Fork." Hill remarked, that that would be marching
directly out of the way from Ferguson ; that it was undoubt-

* Hill's MS. narrative. Colonel Hill, recording his recollections thirty-four years after
this event, makes the evident mistake that the old man visited Ferguson on King s
Mountain.

218 KING'S MO UNTAIN

edly the purpose of the mountain men to fight Ferguson,
who had sent to Cornwallis for Tarleton's horse and infantry
to go to his relief, and this re-inforcement might be expected
in a day a two ; that, if the battle was not fought before
Tarleton's arrival it was very certain it would not be fought
at all ; that Ferguson, who had been bitter and cruel in his
efforts to crush out the Whigs and their cause, was now in
South Carolina, within striking distance, and it appeared as
if Heaven had, in mercy, sent these mountain men to
punish this arch-enemy of the people.

Colonel Hill states, that Williams seemed for some
moments to labor under a sense of embarrassment; but
finally confessed, that he had made use of deception in
order to direct the attention of the mountaineers to Ninety
Six. Hill then inquired if they had any cannon with them.
Williams said "no," and then added, that such men with
their rifles would soon reduce that post. Colonel Hill
relates : "I then used the freedom to tell him, that I plainly
saw through his design, which was to get the army into
his own settlement, secure his remaining property, and
plunder the Tories." In the course of the conversation,
Williams said, with a considerable degree of warmth, that
the North Carolinians might fight Ferguson or let it alone ;
but it was the business of the South Carolinians to fight for
their own country. Colonel Hill took the occasion further
to inform him, that, notwithstanding he had taken such un-
warrantable means to avoid an action with Ferguson, by his
efforts to mislead the mountain men, he would endeavor to
thwart his purposes.

Leaving Williams to his own reflections, Colonel Hill at
once informed Colonel Lacey what the former had done —
that, to use a huntsman's phrase, he had been putting
their friends on the wrong scent ; that should they not be
correctly informed before the ensuing day, Ferguson
might escape ; and as he, Colonel Hill, was unfit to make
a night ride, with his arm still in a sling from the severe

AND ITS HEROES. 219

wound he received at Hanging Rock, he desired Colonel
Lacey to go at once to the camp of the mountaineers, as he
was better able to travel, and give them a just representa-
tion of Ferguson's locality, and the necessity for the great-
est expedition in attacking him while yet within reach, and
before Tarleton could come to his aid.

Taking Colonel Hill's horse, who was a good night
traveler, with a person for pilot who was acquainted with
the country, Lacey started on his mission at about eight
o'clock in the evening ; and on crossing the spur of a moun-
tain, they unfortunately strayed from the trail, and Lacey
began to be suspicious that his guide was playing him false,
and was endeavoring to betray him into the hands of the
enemy. So strong was this conviction, that he twice cocked
his gun to kill the suspected traitor ; but the pilot's earnest
pleas of innocence prevailed.

At length they regained the path, and, after a devious
journey of some eighteen or twenty miles, reached the camp
of the mountain men, at Green river, before day. Lacey was
at once taken in charge, blind-folded, and conducted to the
Colonels' quarters, where he introduced himself as Colonel
Lacey. They at first repulsed his advances, taking him to
be a Tory spy. He had the address, however, to convince
them that he was no impostor. He informed them of Fer-
guson's position, his strength, and urged them, by all
means, to push forward immediately, and that, by combin-
ing the Whig forces, they could undoubtedly overwhelm
the Tory army, while delay might prove fatal to their success,
as Ferguson had appealed to Lord Cornwallis for re-inforce-
ments.* These views met with a hearty response from the
sturdy mountaineers.

♦Hill's MS. narrative, and Dr. M. A. Moore's pamphlet Life of General Edward
Lacey, pp. 16-17. Dr. Moore states that Lacey's journey from the camp of the South
Carolinians to that of the mountaineers was sixty miles; but from Colonel Hill's repre-
sentation of the time consumed by Lacey and his pilot, it is an evident mistake. The dis-
tance from Flint Hill, across a somewhat rough and broken country, to the old ford on
Green river, is as stated in the text.

It should be added, in this connection, that Major Chronicle, who probably personally
knew Colonel Lacey, must, on this visit of the latter, have been absent on a scout or with
a foraging party.

220 KING >S MO UNTAIN

Colonel Lacey learned from the Whig leaders that Wil-
liams and Brandon had represented to them that Ferguson
had gone to Ninety Six ; and that by agreement, the
mountain men were to form a junction with the South Caro-
linians at the Old Iron Works, on Lawson's Fork of Pacolet.
This tallied precisely with the opinion Colonel Hill had
formed, judging from Williams' confession of deception, in
order to lead the mountaineers to the region of Ninety Six,
where his own interests were centered. When Campbell
and his associates learned of the ruse Williams had attempt-
ed to palm off upon them, they felt not a little indignant,
as they had come so far, and suffered so many privations,
for the sole purpose, if possible, of crushing Ferguson.
The Cowpens was agreed on as the proper place for the
junction of the forces the ensuing evening.

Williams seemed intent on carrying his point of getting
control of Sumter's men, and marching them towards
Ninety Six. On the morning of Friday, the sixth of Octo-
ber, he went the rounds of the camp of the South Caroli-
nians, ordering the officers and men to prepare to march
for the Old Iron Works ; but Colonel Hill followed quickly
upon his heels, exposing his designs, and directing the men
to await Colonel Lacey's return, that they might know to
a certainty to what point to march, in order to form
the expected union with their friends from the West.
Colonel Hill animadverted upon the folly of making a
foray into the region of Ninety Six simply for the sake of
Tory booty, when Ferguson, with his strong force, would
be left in their rear, thoroughly acquainted with all the
mountain gaps, and fords of the streams, to entrap and cut
them off. Colonel Hill then ordered all who loved their
country, and were ready to stand firmly by it in its hour of
distress, to form a line on the right ; and those who pre-
ferred to plunder, rather than courageously to meet the
enemy, to form a line on the left. Colonel Hill adds, that
he was happy that the greater portion took their places on

AND ITS HEROES. 221

the right, leaving but the few followers of Williams to oc-
cupy the other position.

Upon the return of Colonel Lacey, about ten o'clock,
the troops renewed their march, with the expectation of
uniting with the mountaineers at the Cowpens that evening.
Colonel Williams, with his followers, hung upon the rear,
as if he thought it unsafe to march by himself at a distance ;
and when the pinch came, he abandoned the idea of going
with his party alone to the region of Ninety Six. By this
time, such was the spirit of animosity cherished by the
Sumter men against Williams and his followers, that they
shouted back affronting words — even throwing stones at
them, the whole day.* About sunset, after a march of
some twenty miles, the South Carolinians arrived at the
place of their destination.

The over-mountain men now demand our attention.
They reached the ford of Green river on the evening of
the fifth of October. Strong guards were placed around
the camp, relieved every two hours — "mighty little sleep
that night," said Continental Jack sixty-four years thereafter.
The whole night was spent in making a selection of the
fittest men, horses, and equipments for a forced march, and
successful attack on the enemy. The number chosen was
about seven hundred ; f thus leaving of the footmen and
those having weak horses, judging from the aggregate
given in the official report of the campaign, about six

♦These details of the movements and differences of Sumter's corps and Williams
and his party, are taken from the interesting MS. narrative of Colonel William Hill. See-
ing no reason to discredit the statements of this sturdy patriot, they have been used freely,
the better to illustrate the difficulties of the times, and especially those attending the King's
Mountain campaign.

| Narrative of Ensign Robert Campbell, who served on the expedition ; corroborated
by Elijah Callaway's MS. narrative, in 1843 General Wm. Lenoir says " five or six hun-
dred " Campbell's and Callaway's statements in this case seem the most probable. Gen-
eral Lenoir's recollections as to the number of footmen is very erroneous, placing them at
about fifteen hundred.

Spelts stated, that some fifty odd footmen followed in the rear, he among the number;
and old "Continental Jack" insisted that though at first they were not able to keep up
with the horsemen, yet they overtook them, before reaching King's Mountain, and shared
in the fight. James Sevier testified to the fact, that a number of footmen actually followed
and took part in the action.

222 KING 'S MO UNTAIJST

hundred and ninety, and somewhat less, according to the
statement of the unknown member of Campbell's regiment.
These were placed under the command of Major Joseph
Herndon, an excellent officer of Cleveland's regiment, while
Captain William Neal was left in special charge of Camp-
bell's men. Colonel Campbell, realizing that the footmen
might yet be needed in his operations, and knowing that
Neal was an officer of much energy of character, had
selected him for this service ; and gave directions to him,
and to Major Herndon also, to do every thing in their
power to expedite the march of the troops confided to their
charge, by urging them forward as rapidly as possible.

Colonel Lacey's opportune visit to the camp of the
mountaineers was fortunate. Some, at least, of the Whig
leaders, as tradition has it, began to doubt the policy of con-
tinuing the uncertain pursuit, lest by being led too far away,
their prolonged absence from their over-mountain homes
might invite a raid from the hostile Cherokees upon their
feebly protected families. Lacey's information and spirited
appeals reassured the timid, and imparted new courage to
the hopeful.* Instead of directing their course, as they
otherwise would have done, to the Old Iron Works, on
Lawson's Fork of Pacolet, some fifteen miles out of their
way, they marched direct for the Cowpens, starting about
daybreak on the morning of the sixth of October. They
took a southerly direction to Sandy Plains, following a
ridge road well adapted for travel ; f thence bearing south-
easterly to the Cowpens, a distance of some twenty-one
miles altogether, reaching the place of rendezvous soon
after sunset, a short time after the arrival of the South
Carolinians and their associates, under Colonels Hill, Lacey,
Williams, and Graham. J On the way, they passed near
where several large bodies of Tories were assembled ; one,

*MS. letter of the late Dr. Alex. Q. Bradley, Marion, Ala., December 29, 1871.

f MS. letter of Dr. T. B. Twitty, of Twitty's Ford of Broad river.

% Hill's MS. narrative. In the narrative of Major Thomas Young, one of Williams'
party, in the Orion magazine, the idea is conveyed that the mountaineers arrived first
and were jngaged in killing beeves.

AND ITS HEROES. 223

numbering six hundred, at Major Gibbs', about four miles
to the right of the Cowpens, who were intending to join
Ferguson the next day ; but the mountain men were after
Ferguson, and would not be diverted from thetr purpose,
and lose precious time, to strike at these lesser parties.*
The riflemen from the mountains had turned out to catch
Ferguson, and this was their rallying cry from the day they
had left the Sycamore Shoals, on the Watauga.f

While the main object was kept steadily in view — not to
be tempted away from the direct pursuit of Ferguson, yet
it was deemed of sufficient importance to endeavor to make
a night attack on this party at Major Gibbs'. The only ac-
count we have of this enterprise is preserved in Ensign
Campbell's diary : " On passing near the Cowpens, we
heard of a large body of Tories about eight miles dis-
tant, and, although the main enterprise was not to be
delayed a single moment, a party of eighty volunteers,
under Ensign Robert Campbell, was dispatched in pursuit
of them during the night. They had, however, removed
before the mountaineers came to the place, and who, after
riding all night, came up with the main body the next
day." Ensign Campbell adds, that "a similar expedition
was conducted by Captain Colvill, with no better success,
but without causing delay," — and this, too, must have been
the same night, though he places it as occurring on the
following one. J

For an hour or two on the evening of the sixth, there was
a stirring bivouac at the Cowpens. A wealthy English Tory,
named Saunders, resided there, who reared large num-
bers of cattle, and having many pens in which to herd his
stock — hence the derivation of Cow-pens. Saunders, was,

"'•Shelby, as cited in Haywood's Tennessee, 70; and Ramsey's Tennessee, 234. Dr.
Hunter, in his Sketches, 306, gives the number of the Tory party at Major Gibbs' as "four
or five hundred." which is perhaps quite as large as it really was.

i Hunter's Sketches.

+ MS. Diary of Ensign Robert Campbell, kindly communicated by Rev. D. C Kelley,
D. D., of Leeville, Tenn. This diary is a different document from the King's Mountain
narrative, by the same writer.

224 KING >S MO UNTAIN

at the time, in bed — perhaps not very well, or feigning sick-
ness ; from which he was unceremoniously pulled out, and
treated pretty roughly. When commanded to tell at what
time Ferguson had passed that place, he declared that the
British Colonel and his army had not passed there at all ;
that there was plenty of torch pine in his house, which they
could light, and search carefully, and if they could find any
track or sign of an army, they might hang him, or do what-
ever else they pleased with him ; but if they made no such
discoveries, he trusted they would treat him more leniently.
Search was accordingly made, but no evidence of an army
passing there could be found.* Several of the old Tory's
cattle were quickly shot down and slaughtered for the sup-
ply of the hungry soldiers ; and the bright camp fires were
everywhere seen lighting up the gloomy surroundings, and
strips of beef were quickly roasted upon the coals and
embers ; while fifty acres of corn found there were har-
vested in about ten minutes. f The weary men and horses
were refreshed — save a few laggards who were too tardy in
cooking their repast.

Joseph Kerr, the cripple spy, was at this time a member
of Colonel Williams' command. Either from Flint Hill,
or shortly before reaching there, he had been sent to gain
intelligence of Ferguson, and found him encamped — appar-
ently at noon-day, on the sixth of October — at Peter
Quinn's, six or seven miles from King's Mountain ; and
designed marching to that point during the afternoon of that
day. It was a region of many Tories, and Kerr found no
difficulty in gaining access to Ferguson's camp ; and hav-
ing been a cripple from his infancy, passed unsuspected of
his true character, making anxious inquiries relative to
taking protection, and was professedly gratified on learning

*MS. narrative of Vance and McDowell, preserved by the late Hon. Robert Henry.

f Silas McBee's statement to the author in 1842. Mr. McBee was born November 24,
1765, and was consequently not quite fifteen when he served on this campaign. He died
in Pontotoc County. Mississippi, January 6th, 1845, in his eightieth year. He was a mem-
ber of the first legislature of Alabama, and was a man much respected by all who knew him.

AND ITS HEROES. 225

good news concerning the King's cause and prospects.
After managing, by his natural shrewdness and good sense,
to make all the observations he could, he quietly retired,
making his way, probably in a somewhat circuitous course,
to rejoin his countrymen. As they were on the wing, he
did not overtake them till the evening of that day, at the
Cowpens, when he was able to report to the Whig chiefs
Ferguson's movements and position, and that his numbers
did not exceed fifteen hundred men.* This information
was much more recent than had come through the old
man who made his report at Flint Hill, on the morning
of the fifth ; and it tended to corroborate the correctness of
the general tenor of the intelligence. And it served to
strengthen the faith of the mountain men, that with proper
energy on their part, and the blessing of Providence, they
would yet overtake and chastise the wily British leader and
his Tory allies, after whom they were so anxiously seeking.
It was deemed important to gain the latest intelligence
of Ferguson's present position, for he might not now be
where he was when seen by Kerr. Among others,
Enoch Gilmer, of the South Fork of Catawba, was pro-
posed by Major Chronicle, of Graham's men. It was
objected that Gilmer was not acquainted with the country
through which Ferguson was believed to have marched.
Chronicle replied, that Gilmer could acquire information
better than those familiar with the region, for he could
readily assume any character that the occasion might re-
quire ; that he could cry and laugh in the same breath, and
all who witnessed him would firmly believe that he was in
earnest in both ; that he could act the part of a lunatic so
appropriately that even those best acquainted with him, if
not let into the secret, would not hesitate a moment to
believe that he was actually deranged ; that he was a

* MS. pension statement of Joseph Kerr ; Hunter's Sketches of Western North Carolina,
121. After the war, Kerr removed to White County, Tennessee, where he received a pen-
sion in 1832 for his Revolutionary services, and subsequently died at a good old age.
15

226 KING >S MO UNTAIN

shrewd, cunning fellow, and a stranger to fear. He was
selected among others, and started off on his mission.

He called at a Tory's house not many miles in advance,
and represented to him that he had been waiting on Fergu-
son's supposed route from Denard's Ford to Ninety Six,
intending to join his forces ; but not marching in that direc-
tion, he was now seeking his camp. The Tory, not sus-
pecting Gilmer's true character, frankly related all he knew
or had learned of Ferguson's movements and intentions ;
that, after he had crossed Broad river at Denard's Ford, he
had received a dispatch from Lord Cornwallis, ordering him
to rejoin the main army ; that his Lordship was calling in his
outposts, making ready to give Gates a second defeat, reduce
North Carolina, stamping out all Rebel opposition as, in
Georgia and South Carolina, when he wrould enter Virginia
with a larger army than had yet marched over American
soil.* Gilmer returned to the Cowpens before the troops
took up their line of march that evening. All this was about
on a par with the ordinary British boasting of the times ;
but did not furnish the Whig leaders with the intelligence
they more particularly desired relative to Ferguson's present
plans and whereabouts.

Meanwhile a council was held, in which the newly joined
officers, save Colonel Williams, participated ; and Colonel
Campbell was retained in the chief command — "in courte-
sy," says Colonel Hill, " to him and his regiment, who had
marched the greatest distance." Men and horses refreshed,
they started about nine o'clock on their night's march in
quest of Ferguson. To what extent the North and South
Carolinians, who joined the mountain men at the Cowpens,
added to their numbers, is not certainly known ; but
as they were less jaded than the others, they probably
reached about their full quota of four hundred, as is
generally understood — Williams had, a few days before,
called them in round numbers, four hundred and fifty,

♦Vance and McDowell narrative, as preserved by Robert Henry.

.AND ITS HEROES. 227

including his own corps ; while Colonel Hill is silent
in his narrative as to their strength. Thus the combined
force at the Cowpens was about eleven hundred, and
nearly all well armed with rifles. Here a prompt selec-
tion was made by the officers from the several parties just
arrived from Flint Hill — so that the whole number of
mounted men finally chosen to pursue and attack Ferguson,
was about nine hundred and ten, besides the squad of un-
counted footmen, who were probably not so numerous as
Spelts supposed. They may be estimated,^r0 rata, accord-
ing to the relative strength of their respective corps, about
as follows : Chosen at Green river — Campbell's men, two
hundred ; Shelby's, one hundred and twenty ; Sevier's, one
hundred and twenty ; Cleveland's, one hundred and ten ;
McDowell's, ninety ; and Winston's, sixty ; — total, seven
hundred. Additional troops selected at the Cowpens:
Lacey's, one hundred; Williams', sixty; and Graham and
Hambright's, fifty ; — total, two hundred and ten ; and mak-
ing altogether nine hundred and ten mounted men.* The
squad of uncounted footmen should be added to the number.
The little party of Georgians seem to have been united
with Williams' men, and served to swell that small corps ;
Chronicle's South Fork boys helped to make up the Lincoln
force under Graham ; while the few footmen doubtless
generally joined their respective corps, though some, like
Spelts, united with the column most convenient to them
when the time of trial arrived.

:l!The official report signed by Campbell, Shelby and Cleveland, says nine hundred was
the number selected ; Shelby's account in Haywood and Ramsey, and in the American
Review says nine hundred and ten; Colonel Hill's MS. narrative gives nine hundred
and thirty-three as the number. Ramsey's Revolution in South Carolina, 1785; Gordon's
American War, 1788; and Moultrie's Memoirs, 1802, all give the number as nine hundred
and ten. So does General Graham in his King s Mountain narrative. General Davidson,
in his letter to General Sumner, October 10, 1780. says sixteen hundred was the number
selected — a palpable error, or exaggeration — which was copied by Marshall into the first
edition of his Life 0/ Washington

" It is not easy." says Rev, Mr. Lathan. " to determine with any degree of certainty,
the exact number of Americans engaged in the battle of King's Mountain." Itis as accurately
known as the numbers are in military operations generally, by following the official and
other reliable reports, and discarding palpable errors and exaggerations — such for instance,
as that which this writer gives that the South Carolinians under Hill and Lacey '' amounted
to near two thousand."

228 KING 'S MO UNTAIN*

It proved a very dark night, and to add to the un-
pleasantness and difficulty of the march, a drizzly rain soon
set in, which, Shelby says, was, at least part of the time,
excessively hard. While the road was pretty good, as
Silas McBee represents, who was raised on Thicketty creek
in that region, yet, from the darkness brooding over them,
the pilots of Campbell's men lost their way, and that corps
became much confused, and dispersed through the woods,
so when morning appeared the rear portion were not more
than five miles from the Cowpens, as Hill's manuscript
informs us. Discovering the absence of the Virginians,
and divining the cause, men were sent from the front at the
dawn of day, in all directions, till the wanderers were found,
who had taken a wrong trail, and were now put on the
right road.

Once reunited, with the light of day to guide them, they
pushed forward uncommonly hard. They had designed
crossing Broad river at Tate's, since Deer's Ferry, as the
most direct route to King's Mountain ; and, as they neared
that locality, they concluded to bear down the river, some
two and a half miles, to the Cherokee Ford, lest the enemy,
peradventure, or some portion of them, might be in posses-
sion of the eastern bank of the stream at Tate's crossing,
and oppose their passage.* It was near daylight, when on
the river hills, in the neighborhood of the Cherokee Ford,
Gilmer was sent forward to reconnoitre at the Ford, and
discover, if possible, whether the enemy might not have
waylaid the crossing at that point, with a design of attack-
ing their pursuers in the river. While awaiting Gilmer's
return, orders were given to the men to keep their guns dry,
for it was yet raining. After some little time, Gilmer's well-
known voice was heard in the hollow near by, singing Bar-
ney Linn, a favorite jolly song of the times, which was suffi-

* Shelby in American Review; Hill's MS. narrative; Vance and McDowell's state-
ment; General Joseph Graham's sketch in Southern Literary Messenger, September, 1845;
General Lenoir's narrative in Wheeler's North Carolina, ii, 106; MS. notes of conversa-
tions with Silas McBee.

AND ITS HEROES. 229

cient notice that the way was clear. As they reached the
river, it was about sunrise. Orders were given, that those
having the largest horses should stem the current on the
upper side of the stream. Not much attention was paid to
the order. Though the river was deep, it was remarked
that not a solitary soldier met with a ducking.* They had
now marched some eighteen miles since leaving the Cow-
pens, and were yet some fifteen miles from King's
Mountain.

After passing the river, Gilmer was again sent forward
to make discoveries, and dashed off at full gallop. The
officers rode at a slow gait in front of their men — the latter,
as if getting somewhat wearied of the pursuit, would some-
times indulge in an oath, adding that if they were to have a
battle, they could wish to engage in it, and have it soon over.
Some three miles above the Cherokee Ford, they came to
Ferguson's former encampment, where they halted a short
time, taking such a snack as their wallets and saddle-
bags afforded — scanty at best, and many entirely destitute.
Coming to a cornfield by the roadside, the mountain men
would soon pull it, cutting some of the raw corn from the
cob for their own sustenance, and hauling a supply for their
horses.

The rain continued to fall so heavily during the forenoon,
that Colonels Campbell, Sevier and Cleveland concluded
from the weary and jaded condition of both men and beasts,
that it was best to halt and refresh. Many of the horses
had given out. Riding up to Shelby, and apprising him of
their views, he roughly replied with an oath: " I will not
stop until night, if I follow Ferguson into Cornwallis'
lines." Without replying, the other Colonels returned to
their respective commands, and continued the march.
The men could only keep their guns dry by wrapping
their bags, blankets, and hunting shirts around the locks,

* MS. notes of conversations with Silas McBee ; Lenoir's narrative; and Benjamin
Sharp's statement in the American Pioneer.

230 KING 'S MO UNTAIN

thus leaving their own persons unpleasantly exposed to the
almost incessant stormy weather which they had encountered
since leaving the Cowpens. Proceeding but a mile after the
proposed halt, they came to Solomon Beason's, who was a
half- Whig, half-Loyalist, as occasion required, where they
learned that Ferguson was only eight miles in advance ; and
there, too, they had the good fortune to capture a couple of
Tories, who, at the peril of their lives, were made to pilot the
army to King's Mountain — one, as related by McBee, ac-
companying Shelby, the other Cleveland. They gave some
account of the situation of the enemy, which revived the
hopes of all, that they would soon gain the object they were
so anxiously seeking. Another gratifying circumstance
was, that the rain ceased about noon, and cleared off with
a fine cool breeze. When the mountaineers had advanced
%s^ miles further, some of Sevier's men called at the house
of a Loyalist, seeking information, when the men would only
say that Ferguson was not far away. As they departed,
a girl followed the riflemen out of the building, and in-
quired : " How many are there of you?" "Enough," was
the reply, "to whip Ferguson, if we can find him." u He
is on that mountain," she said, pointing to the eminence
three miles distant.*

After traveling several miles, the officers in front de-
scried the horse of Gilmer, the scout, fastened at a gate
about three-fourths of a mile ahead. They gave whip to
their steeds, and rode at full speed to the place ; and on
going into the house, found Gilmer sitting at the table eat-
ing. i4You d — d rascal," exclaimed Colonel Campbell,
" we have got you ! " " A true King's man, by G — ," re-
plied Gilmer. In order to test the scout's ability to sustain his
assumed character, Campbell had provided himself with a
rope, with a running noose on it after the style of a lasso,

*MS. notes of conversations with Colonel George Wilson, of Nashville, Tennessee, in
1844. derived from Alexander Greer, one of Sevier's men. Greer was a noble specimen
of the pioneer soldier; became a Colonel of militia in after years, and died on Duck river,
Bedford County, Tennessee, in February, 1810.

AND ITS HEROES. 231

and threw it over Gilmer's neck, swearing that they would
hang him on the bow of the gate. Chronicle begged that
he should not be hung there, for his ghost would haunt the
women, who were present and in tears. Campbell acqui-
esced, saying they would reserve him for the first conveni-
ent over-hanging limb that they should come across on the
road. Once fairly beyond sight of the house, a few hundred
yards, the rope was detached from Gilmer's neck, and he
permitted to remount his horse. He then stated the intelli-
gence he had gained : That on reaching the house, and
finding it occupied by a Tory family, he declared that he was
a true King's man ; and wished to ascertain Ferguson's
camp, as he desired to join him. Finding the two women at
the house warmly attached to the King's cause, he could not
repress his joy, so gave each a hearty sympathizing smack ;
the youngest of whom now freely related, that she had been
in Ferguson's camp that very morning, which was only
about three miles away, and had carried the British com-
mander some chickens ; that he was posted on a ridge
between two branches where some deer hunters had a camp
the previous autumn. Major Chronicle and Captain Mat-
tocks stated that the camp referred to was theirs, and that
they well knew the ground on which Ferguson had taken
post — a spur of King's Mountain.

As they now had recent knowledge of Ferguson's posi-
tion, the officers led by Campbell rode a short distance by
themselves, agreeing upon a plan of attack, and freely re-
ported it to the men for their encouragement ; assuring them
that by surrounding Ferguson's army, and shooting at them
on their part up-hill, there would consequently be no danger
of our men destroying each other, and every prospect of
success would be theirs. It was a question, whether the
mountaineers were numerous enough to surround the entire
ridge on all sides — for they did not then know its exact
length. But the scheme was heartily approved by all. The
officers without stopping, began to agree upon the position
each corps was to occupy in the attack.

232 KING'S MOUNTAIN

Colonel William Graham, who was at the head of the
Lincoln men, and had rendered good service the past sum-
mer in connection with Shelby in the Spartanburg region,
and had so successfully defended his fort on Buffalo creek,
received at this point certain intelligence that his wife was
in a precarious condition, some sixteen miles away, near
Armstrong's Ford on the South Fork, and his presence was
imperatively demanded at the earliest possible moment.
When he stated the case to Colonel Campbell, the latter
replied that if he could venture to remain, share in the im-
pending battle, and carry the tidings of victory to his com-
panion, it would prove the best possible intelligence to her.
Turning to Chronicle, also from the South Fork, Campbell
inquired, as if the Major knew something of the urgency
of the case — "Ought Colonel Graham to have leave of
absence?" "I think so, Colonel," responded Chronicle;
"as it is a woman affair, let him go." Leave of absence
was accordingly granted ; and David Dickey, much against
his wishes, was assigned as an escort. Campbell, judging
that Major Chronicle was a younger and more active officer
than Lieutenant-Colonel Hambright, observed to the Major
— "Now you must take Graham's place;" and turning to
Hambright, Campbell asked if he had any objections. He
generously said, it was his wish that Chronicle should do
so, as he best knew the ground. As this was satisfactorily
arranged, Chronicle exclaimed, "Come on, my South Fork
boys,1' and took the lead.*

When within two or three miles of King's Mountain,
Sevier's advance managed to capture two or three more
Tories, who were out spying, from whom corroborative
information was derived of the position of Ferguson's camp,
and of the locality of his picket guard. f Soon after, a

*This statement concerning: Gilmer's adventures, the plan of the battle, and Colonel
Graham, is taken from the MS Vance-McDowell narrative, and no doubt this portion was
furnished by Robert Henry, one of Chronicle's party.

t Benjamin Sharp's statement ; MS. notes of conversations with Colonel George Wilson,
derived from Alexander Greer; Lathan's Sketch, 14.

AND ITS HEROES. 233

youth, named John Ponder,* some fourteen years of age,
was met riding in great haste, while another account says
he was captured in an old field — probably taking a circuit-
ous course for Charlotte. Colonel Hambright knowing that
this lad had a brother and other relatives in Ferguson's
camp, caused his prompt arrest. On searching him, a fresh
dispatch from Ferguson to Cornwallis was found, manifest-
ing great anxiety as to his situation, and earnestly renew-
ing his request for immediate assistance. The substance
of the dispatch was made known to the men, without, how-
ever, mentioning Ferguson's strength, which he seems to
have given, lest his numbers should tend to discourage them.
Interrogating young Ponder as to the kind of dress Fergu-
son wore, he replied that while that officer was the best
uniformed man on the mountain, they could not see his
military suit, as he wore a checked shirt, or duster, over it.
Colonel Hambright at once called the attention of his men
to this peculiarity of Ferguson's dress: " Well,-poys" said
he, in his broken Pennsylvania German accent, " when you
see dot man mit a -pig shirt on over his clothes, you may know
who him is, and mark him mit your rifles.'" \

As they approached within a mile of the enemy, they
met George Watkins, a good Whig, who had been a
prisoner with Ferguson ; and having been released on
parole, was now on his way home. He was able to give
the very latest information, with the assurance that the
enemy still maintained their position on the mountain.
Here a brief halt was made. Hitherto the men had
been mostly unembodied — marching singly, or in squads,

♦General Joseph Graham, in his King's Mountain narrative, gives the name as Fonde-
rin, which Dr. Hunter in his Sketches repeats. But Colonel J. R. Logan, who has lived
all his life of some seventy years in the King's Mountain region, and whose grandfather,
Wiiliam Logan, was in the battle, states that all the aged persons of that section of country
unite in declaring that the youth s name was John Ponder. A Mr. Dover, says Colonel
Logan, was likewise met on the march, and imparted some information to the Whig
leaders of Ferguson's movements and whereabouts; and the families of the Ponders and
Dovers still reside in York County. South Carolina, and Cleveland-County, North Caro-
lina, while Ponder's Branch of King's creek is a well-known stream in that quarter.

•fGeneral Graham's King's Mountain narrative; MS. correspondence of Abram Hardin;
Hunter's Western North Carolina, 306-7.

234 KING ' S MO UNTAIN

as might best suit their convenience; " but little subordi-
nation," says Colonel Hill, " had been required or ex-
pected." The men were now formed into two lines, two
men deep — Colonel Campbell leading the right line, and
Colonel Cleveland the left.* The officers renewedly adopted
the plan of attack already suggested, to surround the enemy ;
but Williams, as Colonel Hill states, dared not appear at the
council, in consequence of his recent effort to mislead the
Whig Colonels. The strictest orders were given that no
talking would be allowed on the march, which was faithfully
obeyed, every man seeming as dumb as the poor brute that he
rode.f It was somewhere near this point, that Major Winston
was detached, with a portion of the Wilkes and Surry troops,
to make a detour, apparently south of the Quarry road, to
gain the right of Ferguson. J

After passing Whistnant's Mill creek, the mountaineers
followed the ridge road past what is now the Antioch Bap-
tist church, thence northerly till they intersected the road
leading from North Carolina to Yorkville, along which
latter they marched to the right, a nearly south-easterly
course, crossing Ponder's Branch, and another upper prong
of King's creek, by way of Colonel Hambright's subsequent
improvements, and through a gap in the mountain to the
battle hill. Or, as General Graham describes the line of
March after passing King's creek, "they moved up a branch
and ravine, between two rocky knobs ; beyond which the
top of the mountain and the enemy's camp upon it, were in
full view, about a hundred poles in front."

This route by way of Antioch church and Ponder's
Branch was quite circuitous, north of the old Quarry road.
The traditions of the King's Mountain region are more or
less contradictory ; but the statements of the best informed
indicate this as the course pursued ; § and probably this

* James Crow's statement.

+ Statement of Hon. John F. Darby of St. Louis, derived from his grandfather, one of
Campbell's men.

| General Lenoir's narrative.

§ MS. statement of Colonel J. R. Logan.

AND ITS HEROES. 235

indirect way was taken in order to cut off the enemy's retreat,
should they attempt a flight towards Charlotte when the
Whigs should make their formidable appearance. In the
rear of trees and bushes, on the east side of King's creek,
a little above where the Quarry road passes that stream, the
mountaineers arrived at about three o'clock in the afternoon,
when the word " halt " was given. Then they were ordered
to " dismount and tie horses ; " next to " take off and tie up
great-coats, blankets, etc., to your saddles," as it had been
rainy the preceding night, and till within the past three
hours ; and a few men were designated to take charge of
the horses. Then came the final general order: " Fresh
prime your guns, and every man go into battle firmly re-
solving to fight till he dies!" * No such word as fail entered
into the composition or calculations of Campbell and his
men. Never was the war-cry of the ancient Romans more
ceaseless and determined, that Carthage must be destroyed ',
than was that of the mountaineers — to catch and destroy
Ferguson !

*Hon. J. F. Darby's narrative: General GrahanTs statement; Shelby's memoir in
American Review ; Latham's Sketch of King s Mountain.

236 KING yS A/0 UNTAIN

CHAPTER XIL

King's Mountain Battle, October 7th, 1780.

Ferguson and his Men Resolve to Fight. — The Bayonet their Main Re-
liance.— British Strength. — Character of the Provincial Rangers. —
Different Classes of Loyalists Described. — Traits of the Mountain-
eers.— The Holston Men, and Frontier Adventures. — Assignment
of the Whig Corps to the Attack. — Campbell's Appeal to his Men.
— Winston s mis- Adventures. — Cleveland not the First to Commence
the Action. — Surprising the Enemy s Picket. — Shelby s Column An-
noyed by the Enemy. — Campbell's Men Rush into the Fight — At-
tack on the British Main Guard. — The Virginians Advance up the
Mountain. — March of Cleveland 's Men — Patriotic Speech of their
Coinmander — Drive in a Picket. — Movements of Lacey 's Men. —
Campbell's Corps Driven before the Bayonet — Rally, and Renew
the Contest. — Shelby, too, Retired before the Charging Columns. —
The Right and Left Wings take part in the Action. — Culbertson's
Heroism. — Captain Moses Shelby Wounded. — Ensign Campbell Dis-
lodging Tories from their Rocky Ramparts. — Terrific Character of
the Conflict. — Amusing Incident of one of Lacey s Men. — Heroic
Efforts of Campbell and his Corps. — Ensign Ca7npbeU's Good Con-
duct.— Captain Edmondso?i s Exploit and Death. — Lieictenant
Reece Bowens Disdai?i of Danger, and his Lamented Fall. — Camp-
bell 's Active Efforts and Heroic Appeals. — Death of Major Chron-
icle.— The South Fork Boys Charged, and Several Wounded. —
Robert Henry Transfixed, arid yet Survived all his Associates. —
William Twitty and Abram Forney. — Cleveland and his Men. —
Lieute7iant Samuel Johnson and other Wou?ided Officers. — Intre-
pidity of Charles Gordon atid David Wither spoon. — Singular
Adventure of Charles Bowen and Colonel Cleveland.

Ferguson had carefully posted his Provincial corps and
drilled Loyalists along the crest of the mountain, extending
from nearly one end to the other. They had no thought of
retreating from their pursuers. We have, indeed, no evi-
dence that they really knew that the Back Water men were

LIBRARY

OF THE
UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS

AND ITS HEROES. 237

so closely upon them. It is true that one account states,
that the British descried in the far distance " a thick cloud
of cavalry,"* apparently referring to thick clouds of dust
produced by a large body of horsemen ; but this could
not have been so, for the country was then covered with
timber, which would have prevented any such discovery ;
and it had, moreover, rained many successive hours during
the preceding night and the fore part of that day, so that
there was no dust from which any clouds could arise. At
any rate, the enemy maintained their position, either hope-
fully or sullenly determined to fight to the last.

Ferguson's Provincials — or Rangers, as Tarleton terms
them — were not a permanent corps, but made up for special
service, from other Provincial bodies — the King's American
Regiment, raised in and around New York, the Queen's
Rangers, and the New Jersey Volunteers. These Colonial
troops were clad, in the early part of the war, in green ;
afterwards, as a rule, they wore scarlet coats. \ The
Provincials were well trained, and Ferguson relied largely
upon them in consequence of their practised skill in
the use of the bayonet ; and, in case of necessity, for such
of his Tory troops as were without that implement, he had
provided each with a long knife, made by the blacksmiths
of the country, the butt end of the handle of which was
fitted the proper size to insert snugly in the muzzle of the
rifle, with a shoulder or button two inches or more from
the end, so that it could be used as an effective substitute
for a bayonet.

What was the exact strength of Ferguson's force cannot
with certainty be determined. Tarleton says, beside his
corps of Rangers — which numbered about one hundred —
he had not far from one thousand Loyal Militia, \ while
some British accounts put the number as low as eight hun-

* History of the War in America, Dublin, 1785, iii, 149.
t MS. Correspondence of Gen. J. W. DePeyster.
\ Southern Campaigns, 156.

238 KING 'S MO UNTAIN

dred. The American official report, professing to gain the
information from the enemy's provision returns of that day,
gives the number as eleven hundred and twenty-five ; and
this tallies pretty closely with Tarleton's statement. There
is, however, some reason to suppose that about two hundred
Tories left camp that day, perhaps on a scout, but more
likely on a foraging expedition.

It is fitting, in this connection, to speak of the character
of these Loyalists, here arrayed on King's Mountain, and
about to engage in a memorable conflict against their com-
mon country — for they were all, or nearly all, save Fergu-
son himself, natives of the Colonies. Now that Dunlap was
separated from them, Ferguson's corps of Rangers seem to
have been quite as unobjectionable a class of men as the
temptations and unrestrained recklessness of war ordinarily
permit the military to be ; and, though they had fled before
Captain Hampton in their retreat from Earle's Ford of North
Pacolet, and had recoiled before the galling fire of Shelby
and Clarke near Cedar Spring, the summer preceding, yet
they were experienced soldiers, and were by many account-
ed as brave and reliable as any British troops in America.

But who were the Tories proper? They were made up
of different classes of citizens who sympathized with, or
took up arms for the King, and fought against their fellow-
citizens who were bravely contending for the liberties of
their country. Those of them who remained after the war,
in their old localities, were sadly abused and villified as long
as they lived. They hardly dared to offer an apology for
their conduct. They were numerous in many of the States,
and have left many descendants, not a few of whom are
among the most worthy and respected in the communities
where they reside ; yet none of them boast of their relation-
ship to the Loyalists. It has been the fashion to stigmatize
the Tories without stint and without discrimination, heap-
ing all manner of reproaches upon them and their class
generally. The issue of the war, and the general verdict

AND ITS HEROES. 239

of the Whigs, who had suffered not a little in the seven
years' conflict, seemed to justify these severe judgments.
No one now supposes that he would have been a Tory, had
it been the will of Providence that he should have been an
actor in the scenes of the Revolution a century ago. As
he reads the history of the stirring events connected with
the war, he concludes, that had he been there, he would,
as a matter of course, have been on the right side, periling
life and fortune at every hazard in the cause of freedom.

It is easy enough for us to imagine, when we read of
deeds of humanity, generosity, and noble daring, that we,
too, would have acted in a similar manner had we been in
the same situation as those persons were who performed
them. Few know, till they are tried, what they would do
under certain circumstances. One's associations, surround-
ings, and temptations oftentimes exert an overpowering in-
fluence. Let us judge even the Tories with as much char-
ity and leniency as we can. Some of them were cajoled
into the British service, and not a few forced into it under
various pretenses and intimidations.

Rev. James H. Saye, who has spent his life of over
seventy years in Georgia and South Carolina, and had
much intercourse with the survivors of the Revolution in his
day, made the various classes of Tories a special subject of
study and inquiry, including the influences that prompted
their unhappy choice, and grouped them into six principal
divisions :

i . There were some men in the country conscientiously
opposed to war, and every sort of revolution which led to
it, or invoked its aid. They believed that they ought to
be in subjection to the powers that be ; and hence they main-
tained their allegiance to the British crown. The Quakers
were of this class. They were then far more numerous in
the Carolinas than now. They were, religiously, non-com-
batants ; and the weight of their influence naturally fell on
the wrong side.

240 KING >S MO UNTAIN

2. There were many persons who really knew nothing
of the questions at issue in the contest. The world has
always been cursed with too large a stock of men of this
class, whose days are passed in profound ignorance of every-
thing which requires an exertion of intellect, yet often the
most self-conceited beings that wear the human form — per-
fect moles, delighting in nothing so much as dirt and dark-
ness. This class followed their cunning and intriguing
leaders in the Revolution, and were easily and naturally
led into the camp of the Loyalists.

3. Another class thought the Government of George
the Third too good to exchange for an uncertainty. They
practically said: "Let well enough alone; a little tax on
tea won't hurt us ; and as for principles and doctrines, leave
them to the lawyers and parsons.''

4. Another class thought that, however desirable the
right of self-government might be, it was then quite out of
the question, unless his most gracious Majesty might be
pleased to grant it ; and they believed that the fleets and
armies of Great Britain were perfectly invincible, while de-
feat and utter ruin to all engaged in it must follow rebellion
against the King.

5. There was another class who claimed no little cred-
it for shrewdness and management ; who prided themselves
on being genteel and philosophical. If they ever had scru-
ples of conscience, they amounted to very little ; if an}^ re-
ligious principles, they imposed no self-denial, and forbade
no sensual gratification. If they had a spark of patriotism
or love for their King, it could only be kindled by fuel from
the Government coffers. The needle is no truer to the
pole than were these people to the prospect of gain. War
is usually a great distributor of money ; they wanted a lib-
eral share, and wanted to acquire it easily. On the fall of
Charleston, when Sir Henry Clinton issued his proclama-
tion, these money-worshipers discovered in it a bow of
promise. Pardon was offered to all rebels with one excep-

AND ITS HEROES. 241

tion ; and that exception embraced many persons of large
estates, and a still greater number possessing comfortable
means. Here the shadow of a golden harvest flitted before
their longing eyes. The excepted Whigs had property
enough to make many rich, if informed against by the zeal-
ous advocates of the crown ; or, if plundered and appropri-
ated without taking the trouble of making any report of the
matter. Feelings of humanity and tenderness were not
cultivated or regarded — it was enough that the proscribed
Whigs had well-cultivated farms, negroes, horses, cattle,
or other desirable property, and that they had, in their esti-
mation, justly forfeited all by rebelling against the King and
his Government. This class became the sycophants to Royal
authority, and the army of plunderers during the war ; and
once hardened in pillaging, they soon became reckless of
life and virtue.

6. There was yet another class which had a large fol-
lowing among the Tories — a class, too, which either on ac-
count of its numbers, industry, or general influence, gave
character to a large portion of the whole fraternity. When
a Revolutionary soldier was asked, u What sort of men were
the Tories?'' The almost invariable reply was, u A pack
of rogues." An eminent ex-ample of this class was found
in the person of Plundering Sam Brown, already described,
a notorious robber years before the war commenced ; yet,
like other men who had wealth or the means of acquiring
it, he had numerous friends and followers. He had the
shrewdness to perceive that the field was well suited to his
tastes and habits ; and accordingly rallied his retainers,
joined Ferguson, and for a time proved an efficient ally.
Though he had been an outlaw for many years, yet few
brought to the Royal standard a larger share of talent for
cunning and inhumanity for the position assigned him. He
now enjoyed the liberty of plundering under the sanction
of law and authority, and of arresting, for the sake of re-
ward, those who had long been known as the stanch de-

242 KING 'S MO UNTAIN

fenders of honesty and justice. The notorious Captain
David Fanning, Bloody Bill Bates, and Bloody Bill Cun-
ningham were men of the same infamous character — un-
feeling, avaricious, revengeful, and bloody.

Here, then, were the conscientious class of Loyalists ;
an ignorant class ; an indifferent class ; a cowardly class ;
a covetous, money-making class ; and a disappointed, ro-
guish, revengeful class. It must not be supposed that these
characteristics were never combined. Several of them had
a natural affinity for each other, and were almost invariably
found united in the same person. The non-combatants, the
cowards, and the indifferent were not found among those
arrayed on King's Mountain; but Ferguson's force, aside
from the young men who had enlisted under his standard,
and a few worthy but misguided people, was largely made
up of the worst characters which war evolves from the dregs
of mankind.*

In the confronting ranks was a very different class of
men. Those from the Holston, under Campbell, were a
peculiar people — somewhat of the character of Cromwell's
soldiery. They were, almost to a man, Presbyterians. In
their homes, in the Holston Valley, they were settled in
pretty compact congregations ; quite tenacious of their re-
ligious and civil liberties, as handed down from father to
son from their Scotch-Irish ancestors. Their preacher,
Rev. Charles Cummins, was well fitted for the times ; a
man of piety and sterling patriotism, who constantly exerted
himself to encourage his people to make every needed sac-
rifice, and put forth every possible exertion in defense of the
liberties of their country. They were a remarkable body
of men, both physically and mentally. Inured to frontier
life, raised mostly in Augusta and Rockbridge Counties,
Virginia, a frontier region in the French and Indian war, they
early settled on the Holston, and were accustomed from their
childhood to border life and hardships ; ever ready at the tap

* Saye's Memoir of Mcjunkin,

AND ITS HEROES. 243

of the drum to turn out on military service ; if, in the busiest
crop season, their wives, sisters, and daughters could, in their
absence, plant, and sow, and harvest. They were better
educated than most of the frontier settlers, and had a more
thorough understanding of the questions at issue between
the Colonies and their mother country. These men went
forth to strike their country's foes, as did the patriarchs of
old, feeling assured that the God of battles was with them,
and that He would surely crown their efforts with success.
They had no doubts nor fears. They trusted in God — and
kept their powder dry. Such a thing as a coward was not
known among them. How fitting it was, that to such a
band of men should have been assigned, by Campbell's
own good judgment, the attack on Ferguson's choicest
troops — his Provincial Rangers. It was a happy omen of
success — literally the forlorn hope — the right men in the
right place.

Lacey's men, mostly from York and Chester Counties,
South Carolina, and some of those under Shelby, Sevier,
Cleveland, Williams, Winston, and McDowell, were of the
same character — Scotch-Irish Presbyterians ; but many of
them, especially those from the Nolachucky, Watauga, and
lower Holston, who had not been very long settled on the
frontiers, were more of a mixed race, somewhat rough, but
brave, fearless, and full of adventure. They were not a
whit less patriotic than the Virginians ; and were ever ready
to hug a bear, scalp an Indian, or beard the fiercest Tories
wherever they could find them. Such, in brief, were the
salient characteristics of the mountaineers, and the men of
the up-country of the Carolinas, who were about to engage
in deadly conflict with Ferguson and his motley followers.

The decisive moment was now at hand, and the moun-
taineers were eager for the fray. Campbell and his corps
commanders had arranged their forces into two divisions, as
nearly equal as they could conveniently form them, each
party to attack opposite sides of the mountain. Campbell

244 KING'S MOUNTAIN

was to lead his Virginians across the southern end of the
ridge, and south-east side, which Shelby designates as the
column of the right center ; then Sevier's regiment, Mc-
Dowell's and Winston's battalions, were to form a column
on the right wing, north-east of Campbell, and in the order
named, under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Sevier.
Of these, Winston had, it will be remembered, made a
detour some distance to the south of Ferguson, in order the
more promptly to gain the position assigned him, and per-
adventure lend a helping hand in retarding the enemy,
should they conclude that a hasty retreat was the better
part of valor.

Shelby's regiment was to take position on the left of the
mountain, directly opposite to Campbell, and form the left
center — Campbell's left and Shelby's right coming together ;
and beyond Shelby were respectively Williams' command,
including Brandon, Hammond, and Candler ; then the South
Carolinians under Lacey, Hathorne, and Steen, with the
remainder of the Wilkes and Surry men under Cleveland,
together with the Lincoln troops under Chronicle and Ham-
bright, all under the direction of Colonel Cleveland. By
this disposition was the patriot force arranged in four col-
umns— two on either side of the mountain, led respectively
by Colonels Campbell and Sevier on the right, and Shelby
and Cleveland on the left. It is reasonable to presume that,
as Winston had been detached, when a mile away, to gain
his assigned position on the right, that Chronicle and Ham-
bright were also early ordered to gain the extreme left por-
tion of the mountain, so that these two parties should meet
each other, and thus encompass the enemy on that end of
the ridge.

Before taking up the line of march, Campbell and the
leading officers earnestly appealed to their soldiers — to the
higher instincts of their natures, by all that was patriotic
and noble among men, to fight like heroes, and give not an
inch of ground, save only from the sheerest necessity, and

AND ITS HEROES. 245

then only to retrace and recover their lost ground at the
earliest possible moment. Campbell personally visited all
the corps; and said to Cleveland's men, as he did to all,
" that if any of them, men or officers, were afraid, to quit
the ranks and go home ; that he wished no man to engage
in the action who could not fight ; that, as for himself, he
was determined to fight the enemy a week, if need be, to
gain the victory.''* Colonel Campbell also gave the neces-
sary orders to all the principal officers, and repeated them,
so as to be heard by a large portion of the line, and then
placed himself at the head of his own regiment, as the
other officers did at the head of their respective commands. \
Many of the men threw aside their hats, tying handker-
chiefs around their heads, so as to be less likely to be
retarded by limbs and bushes when dashing up the moun-
tain. \

At length the several corps started for the scene of con-
flict, marching two men deep, led on by their gallant offi-
cers. Both the right and left wings were somewhat longer
in reaching their designated places than had been expected.
When Winston's party had marched about a mile, they
reached a steep hill, losing sight of the other columns, and
evidently of King's Mountain also. Some men riding in
view directed them to dismount from their horses, and
march up the hill, which was immediately done, with the
anticipation of meeting the enemy on its summit ; but, be-
fore they had advanced two hundred paces, they were again
hailed, disabused of their error, and directed to re-mount
their horses and push on, as King's Mountain was yet a
mile away. They now ran down the declivity with great
precipitation to their horses, and, mounting them, rode, like
so man}' fox hunters, at an almost break-neck speed,
through rough woods and brambles, leaping branches and

^Statement of Joseph Phillips, one of Cleveland's men.

fMS. narrative of Gov. Campbell.

t Mrs. Ellet's Women of the Revolution, iii, 293.

246 KING 'S MO UN TAIN

crossing ridges, without a proper guide who had a personal
knowledge of the country. But they soon fell upon the
enemy, as good luck would have it, at the very point of
their intended destination.

It was an erroneous idea of the South Carolina historian,
Ramsay, that Cleveland's men, who had been compelled
to make something of a circuit to reach their appointed po-
sition in the arrangement for the onslaught, were the first
to commence the action, and the first to receive a bayonet
charge from the enemy. The official report, to which
Cleveland gave the sanction of his signature, states that
Shelby and Campbell's regiments began the attack. Such
was the nature of the ground, and the thick, intervening
foliage of the trees, that the Whigs were not discovered till
within a quarter of a mile of Ferguson ; when the enemy's
drums beat to arms, and the shrill whistle of their comman-
der was distinctly heard, notifying his followers to repair to
their places in the ranks, and be ready for hot work, for
they well knew that no child's play was in reserve for them.

A select party of Shelby's men undertook to surprise a
picket of the enemy, of whose position they had previous
knowledge, and accomplished their purpose without firing
a gun or giving the least alarm. This exploit seems to
have occurred some distance from the mountain, and was
hailed by the army as a good omen.* Orders had been
given to the right and left wings, that when the center col-
umns were ready for the attack, they were to give the signal
by raising a regular frontier war-whoop, after the Indian
style, and rush forward, doing the enemy all the injury
possible ; and the others hearing the battle-shout and the
reports of the rifles, were to follow suit. The first firing
was heard on the north side of the mountain \ — evidently
made by the enemy upon Shelby's column, before they
were in position to engage in the action. It was galling in

* Sharp's narrative in the American Pioneer.

+ Young's auto-biography in the Orion magazine.

AND ITS HEROES. 247

its effect, and not a little annoying to the mountaineers,
some of whom, in their impatience, complained that it
would never do to be shot down without returning the fire.
Shelby coolly replied, "press on to your places, and then
your fire will not be lost." *

But before Shelby's men could gain their position, Col-
onel Campbell had thrown off his coat, and while leading
his men to the attack, he exclaimed at the top of his voice,
— "Here they are, my brave boys; shout like h — /, and
fight like devils!" The woods immediately resounded
with the shouts of the line, in which they were heartily
joined, first by Shelby's corps, and then instantly caught
up by the others along the two wrings.f When Captain
De Peyster heard these almost deafening yells — the same
in kind he too "well remembered hearing from Shelby's men
at Musgrove's Mill, — he remarked to Ferguson: "These
things are ominous — these are the d — d yelling boys ! "J
And when these terrific shouts saluted Ferguson's ears, he
expressed fears for the result. §

About the time the Virginians advanced to the conflict,
Major Micajah Lewis, with his brother, Captain Joel Lewis,
both of the Wilkes and Surry troops, with Captain Andrew
Colvill, of the Virginia regiment, had been designated by
Colonel Campbell to make a dash on horseback upon the
British main guard, half way up the spur of the mountain ;
and having swept them out of the way, to fall back, dis-
mount, and join the others in the general advance. Here
the first heavy firing took place between the contending
parties, the guard commencing it. The mountaineers raised
the Indian war-whoop and rushed upon the foe, who soon
retreated, leaving some of their men to crimson the earth
with their blood. II

* Graham's sketch in the Southern Literary Messenger, and Foote's North Carolina.

-f- Statement of John Craig, one of Campbell's men ; conversations with Gov. David
Campbell, in 1844

J Statement, in 1844. of Col George Wilson.

$ Gov. Campbell's statement.

J MS. statement of J. L. Gray, and his communication in the Rutherford Enquirer,
May 24th, 1859.

248 KING ' S MO UNTAIN

One of the mountaineers came within rifle shot of a
British sentinel before the latter perceived him ; on discov-
ering the American, he discharged his musket, and ran
with all his speed towards the camp on the hill. This ad-
venturous Whig, who had pressed forward considerably in
advance of his fellows, quickly dismounted, leveled his rifle,
firing at the retreating Briton, the ball striking him in the
back of the head, when he fell and expired.* Among the
slain of the Virginians was Lieutenant Robert Edmondson,
and John Beatty, the ensign of Colvill's company, while
Lieutenant Samuel Newell, also of Colvill's corps, was
wounded. Retiring down the hill, Newell passed Colonel
Campbell and Major Edmondson hurrying on the regiment
into action.

But Newell was too good a soldier to give up at the very
commencement of the fight ; and returning some distance,
he came across a horse, mounting which he rode back to
the lines to perform his share in the conflict. f

What terse, patriotic utterances were made by the sev-
eral Whig leaders to their heroic followers, have been main-
ly lost to history. Such words had their intended effect at
the time : but all were too intent on the exciting scenes be-
fore them, to treasure up in their memories these outbursts
of patriotism. Cleveland and his men, while passing
around to the left of the mountain, were somewhat retarded
by a swampy piece of ground then saturated with water ; \
but, getting clear of this, Cleveland discovered an advance
picket of the enemy, when he made the following charac-
teristic speech to his troops — not, under the circumstances,
in a very formal manner we may well conclude, but, most
likely, by piece-meal, as he rode along the lines:

"My brave fellows, we have beaten the Tories, and we
can beat them again. They are all cowards : if they had

*This incident is given on authority of a writer in the Rutherford Enquirer, May 24th,
1859 signing himself "J. L. G." — J. L. Gray.

+ Statements of Lieutenant Newell and Ensign Robert Campbell.
J Sharp's narrative.

AND ITS HEROES. 249

the spirit of men, they would join with their fellow-citizens
in supporting the independence of their country. When
you are engaged, you are not to wait for the word of com-
mand from me. I will show you, by my example, how to
fight ; I can undertake no more. Every man must consider
himself an officer, and act from his own judgment. Fire
as quick as you can, and stand your ground as long as you
can. When you can do no better, get behind trees, or
retreat ; but I beg you not to run quite off. If we are
repulsed, let us make a point of returning, and renewing
the fight ; perhaps we may have better luck in the second
attempt than the first. If any of you are afraid, such shall
have leave to retire, and they are requested immediately to
take themselves off." * But a single man, John Judd,
intimated a preference to remain behind — " to hold the
horses," as he expressed it ; while, to redeem the honor of
the family, his brother, Rowland Judd, went forward, and
acted the part of a brave soldier in the trying conflict.!
The distance that Cleveland's men had to march, with the
swampy nature of their route, delayed them some ten min-
utes in reaching the place assigned them. But they nobly
made amends for their delay by their heroic conduct in the
action. The picket that they attacked soon gave way, and
they were rapidly pursued up the mountain.

Doctor Moore asserts, that it has always been the tradi-
tion in the King's Mountain region, that inasmuch as Col-
onel Lacey rode the express, and gave the patriots at Green
river the true situation of Ferguson, Colonel Campbell gave
him the honor of commencing the battle — the friends of
Campbell, Shelby, Sevier, Winston, and Roebuck have for
each also claimed the same honor ; that Lacey led on his
men from the north-western and most level side of the
mountain, engaging the attention of the foe, while Cleve-

* Ramsay's Resolution in South Carolinat 1785, ii, 182-83. This speech was derived
apparently from Colonel Cleveland himself.

+ MS. correspondence of Col. H. A. Brown, formerly of Wilkes County, N. C, novv of
Maury County, Tennessee.

250 KING 'S MO UNTAIN

land and the other leaders marched to their respective
places of assignment, completely encircling Ferguson's
army. * Judging from the official report, this tradition has
no substantial foundation ; yet Lacey, no doubt, anticipated
Cleveland, and perhaps some of the other regimental and
battalion commandants, in engaging the attention of the
enemy, and taking part in the conflict.

Where Campbell's men ascended the mountain to com-
mence the attack was rough, craggy, and rather abrupt — the
most difficult of ascent of any part of the ridge ; but these
resolute mountaineers permitted no obstacles to prevent
them from advancing upon the foe, creeping up the accliv-
ity, little by little, and from tree to tree, till they were
nearly at the top — the action commencing at long lire, f
The Virginians were the first upon whom Ferguson ordered
his Rangers, with doubtless a part of his Loyalists, to make
a fixed bayonet charge. Some of the Virginians obsti-
nately stood their ground till a few of them were thrust
through the body ; but being unable, with rifles only, to
withstand such a charge, they broke and fled down the
mountain — further, indeed, than was necessary. J In this
rapid charge, Lieutenant Allaire, of Ferguson's corps, over-
took an officer of the mountaineers, fully six feet high ; and
the British Lieutenant being mounted, dashed up beside his
adversary, and killed him with a single blow of his sword. §
But the British chargers did not venture quite to the bottom
of the hill, before they wheeled, and quickly retired to the
summit. Campbell's men ran across the narrow interven-
ing valley to the top of the next ridge. Colonel Campbell
and Major Edmondson, about half way between their men
and the enemy, were loudly vociferating to their Virginians
to halt and rally ; and Lieutenant Newell, now mounted,
joined them in this effort. The men were soon formed, and

* Life of Lacey, 17-18.

f Statement of James Crow, of Campbell's men.
J Statement of Lieutenant Newell.

# Lieutenant Allaires' narrative in the New York Royal Gazette, Feb. 24, 1781.

AND ITS HEROES. 251

again led up by their heroic commander to renew the con-
test. * It was during this attack that Lieutenant Robert
Edmondson, the younger, of Captain David Beattie's com-
pany— for there were two Lieutenants of the Virginians of
that name — was wounded in the arm. He then sheltered
himself behind a tree, with one of his soldiers, John Craig,
who bandaged up his limb. By this time Campbell's men
were successfully rallied, and were returning to the charge,
when Edmondson exclaimed, " Let us at it again !" f Of
such grit was Campbell's Holston soldiers composed ; and
as long as there was any fighting to be done for their
country, and they could stand upon their feet, they never
failed to share largely in it.

Colonel Shelby has briefly stated his knowledge of this
heroic movement of Campbell and his men. " On the first
onset," says Shelby, " the Washington militia attempted
rapidly to ascend the mountain ; but were met by the British
regulars with fixed bayonets, and forced to retreat. They
were soon rallied by their gallant commander, and some of
his active officers, and by a constant and well-directed fire
of our rifles we drove them back in our turn, and reached
the summit of the mountain. "J Or, as cited by Haywood,
and understood to be also from a statement by Shelby :
" Campbell, with his division, ascended the hill, killing all
that came in his way, till coming near enough to the main
body of the enemy, who were posted upon the summit, he
poured in upon them a most deadly fire. The enemy, with
fixed bayonets, advanced upon his troops, who gave way
and went down the hill, where they rallied and formed, and
again advanced. The mountain was covered with flame
and smoke, and seemed to thunder. v%

While Ferguson's Rangers were thus employed in their
dashing bayonet charge against Campbell's column, Shelby

* Statements of Newell, and David Campbell, afterwards of Campbell's Station, TenrJ.

f John Craig's statement.

\ Shelby's letter to Col. Arthur Campbell. Oct. 12, 1780.

§ Haywood's Tennessee, 71.

252 KING ' 5 MO UNTAIN

was pressing the enemj- on the opposite side and south-
western end of the mountain ; so that the Provincials found
it necessary to turn their attention to this body of the
mountaineers. "Shelby, a man of the hardiest make, stiff
as iron, among the dauntless singled out for dauntlessness,
went right onward and upward like a man who had but one
thing to do, and but one thought — to do it. " * But brave
as he and his men were, the}T, too, had to retreat before the
charging column, yet slowly firing as they retired. When,
at the bottom of the hill, Shelb}7 wanted to bring his men to
order, he would cry out — " Nowr, boys, quickly re-load your
rifles, and let's advance upon them, and give them
another h — 1 of a tire ! " \

Thus were Campbell's and Shelby's men hotly engaged
some ten minutes before the right and left wings reached
their points of destination, when, at length, they shared in
completely encompassing the enemy, and joined in the
deadly fray. Ferguson soon found that he had not so much
the advantage in position as he had anticipated ; for the sum-
mit of the mountain was bare of timber, exposing his men to
the assaults of the back-woods riflemen, who, as the}*
pressed up the ridge, availed themselves of the trees on its
sides, which afforded them protection, and which served to
retard the movements of the British charging parties. As
the enemy were drawn up in close column on the crest of
the mountain, they presented a fair mark for the rifles of the
mountaineers, \ and they suffered severely by the exposure.
The famous cavalry Colonel, Harry Lee, well observed of
Ferguson's chosen place for battle — it was " more assailable
by the rifle than defensible with the bayonet." § ft+^/U^ck

Among the keenest of the sharp-shooters under §k^i^^
was Josiah Culbertson, so favorably noticed elsewhere in
this work. He had been selected with others to get pos-

* Bancroft, x, 338.

t MS. statement of Gen Thomas Love, derived from Captain David Vance.

\ Shelby's narrative in the American Review.

§ Lee's Memoirs of the War, revised edition, N. Y., 1872, p 200.

TCBJMMS SEDBIEIBT.

'££<&£

RY
OF THE
UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS

AND ITS HEROES. 253

session of an elevated position, for which a Tory Gaptain
and a party under him stoutly contended ; but Culbertson
and his riflemen were too alert for their antagonists, and
pressing closely upon them, forced them to retire to some
large rocks, where Culbertson at length shot their leader in
the head, when the survivors fled, and soon after with their
fellows were compelled to surrender. *

Captain Moses Shelby, a brother of the Colonel, received
two wounds in the action — the last through his thigh near
his body, disabling it, so that he could not stand without help.
He was assisted down to a branch, some distance from the
foot of the mountain, and was left with his rifle for his de-
fence, should he need it, Seeing one of the soldiers coming
down too frequently to the branch under plea of thirst,
Captain Shelby admonished him if he repeated his visit he
would shoot him ; that it was no time to shirk duty, f

But a portion of the Tories had concealed themselves
behind a chain of rocks in that quarter, from which they
kept up a destructive fire on the Americans. As Camp-
bell's and Shelby's men came in contact at the south-
western end of the ridge, Shelby directed Ensign Robert
Campbell, of the Viginians, to move to the right, with a
small party, and endeavor to dislodge the enemy from
their rocky ramparts. Ensign Campbell led his men,
under fire of the British and Tory lines, within forty steps
©f them ; but discovering that the Whigs had been driven
down the hill, he gave orders to his party to post them-
selves, as securely as possible, opposite to the rocks and
near to the enemy, while he himself went to the assistance
of Campbell and his fellow officers in bringing the regiment
to order, and renewing the contest. These directions were
punctually obeyed, and the watching party kept up so gall-
ing a fire with their well-plied rifle shots, as to compel

♦Washington, Indiana, Weekly Register, Oct. 17, 1839.

+ Captain Moses Shelby's Statement. Conversation with Maj. Thomas H. Shelby,
son of Governor Shelby, in 1863.

254 KING 'S MO UNTAIN

Ferguson to order a stronger force to cover and strengthen
his men behind their rocky defence ; but, towards the close
of the action, they were forced to retire, with their demor-
alized associates, to the north-eastern portion of the moun-
tain.*

The battle now raging all around the mountain was almost
terrific. " When that conflict began," exclaimed the late
eloquent Bailie Peyton, of Tennessee, "the mountain
appeared volcanic ; there flashed along its summit, and
around its base, and up its sides, one long sulphurous
blaze." f The shouts of the mountaineers, the peals of
hundreds of rifles and muskets, the loud commands and
encouraging words of the respective officers, writh every
now and then the shrill screech of Ferguson's silver
whistle high above the din and confusion of the battle,
intermingled with the groans of the wounded in every part
of the line, combined to convey the idea of another pande-
monium.

Colonel Lacey and his gallant South Carolinians, who
had seen hard service under Sumter on many a well-fought
field, rushed forward to share in the contest. At the very
first fire of the enemy, Colonel Lacey's fine horse was shot
from under him. With a single exception these South
Carolinians, mostly from York and Chester, proved them-
selves worthy of the high reputation they had gained on
other fields. That exception was an amusing one — a man
who, at heart, was as true a patriot as could be found in the
Carolinas ; but who constitutionally could not stand the smell
of powder, and invariably ran at the very first fire.
When about going into action to fight Ferguson and his
Tories, his friends, knowing his weakness, advised him to
remain behind. "No,'' said he, indignantly, "I am
determined to stand my ground to-day, live or die." True
to his instinct, at the very first fire he took to his heels, as

* Ensign Campbell's narrative ; his statement, also, as published in 1823.
f Mr. Peyton's speech in Congress, January 16th, 1834.

AND ITS HEROES. 265

usual. After the battle was over, when he returned, his
friends chided him for his conduct. " From the first fire,"
said he, by way of apology, "I knew nothing whatever
till I was gone about a hundred and fifty yards ; and when
I came to myself, recollecting my resolves, I tried to stop ;
but my confounded legs would carry me off!" * But for-
tunately his associates were made up of better material,
and rendered their country good service on this occasion.

No regiment had their courage and endurance more
severely tested than Campbell's. They were the first in
the onset — the first to be charged down the declivity by
Ferguson's Rangers — and the first to rally and return to
the contest. Everything depended upon successfully rally-
ing the men when first driven down the mountain. Had
they have become demoralized as did the troops at Gates'
defeat near Camden, and as did some of Greene's militia
at Guilford, they would have brought disgrace and disaster
upon the Whi^ cause. When repulsed at the point of the
bayonet, the well-known voice of their heroic commander
bade them "halt! — return my brave fellows, and you will
drive the enemy immediately ! "f He was promptly obeyed,
for Campbell and his officers had the full confidence and
control of their mountaineers. They bravely faced about,
and drove the enemy, in turn, up the mountain. In these
desperate attacks, many a hand-to-hand fight occurred, and
many an act of heroism transpired, the wonder and admir-
ation of all beholders ; but there were so many such heroic
incidents, where all were heroes, that only the particulars
of here and there one have been handed down to us.
Ensign Robert Campbell, at the head of a charging party,
with singular boldness and address, killed Lieutenant
McGinnis, a brave officer of Ferguson's Rangers. J

Captain William Edmondson, also of Campbell's regi-
ment, remarked to John McCrosky, one of his men, that

* Moore's Life of Larey, 18.

f Statement of David Campbell, of Campbell's Station, who shared in the action.

\ Ramsey's Tennessee, 240.

256 KING 'S MO UN TAIN

he was not satisfied with his position, and dashed forward
into the hottest part of the battle, and there received the
charge of DePeyster's Rangers, discharged his gun, then
clubbed it and knocked the rifle out of the grasp of one
of the Britons. Seizing him by the neck, he made him his
prisoner, and brought him to the foot of the hill. Returning
again up the mountain, he bravely fell fighting in front of
his company, near his beloved Colonel. His faithful
soldier, McCrosky, when the contest was ended, went in
search of his Captain, found him, and related the great
victory gained, when the dying man nodded his satifaction
of the result. The stern Colonel Campbell was seen to
brush away a tear, when he saw his good friend and heroic
Captain stretched upon the ground under a tree, with one
hand clutching his side, as if to restrain his life blood from
ebbing away until the battle was over. He heard the shout
of victon* as his commander and friend grasped his other
hand. He was past speaking ; but he kissed his Colonel's
hand, smiled, loosed his feeble hold on life, and the
Christian patriot went to his reward.*

Lieutenant Reece Bowen, who commanded one of the
companies of the Virginia regiment, was observed while
marching forward to attack the enemy, to make a hazard-
ous and unnecessary exposure of his person. Some friend
kindly remonstrated with him — *' Why Bowen, do you not
take a tree — why rashly present yourself to the deliberate
aim of the Provincial and Tory riflemen, concealed behind
every rock and bush before you? — death will inevitably
follow, if you persist." -'Take to a tree,'1 he indignantly
replied — " no! — never shall it be said, that I sought safety
by hiding my person, or dodging from a Briton or Tory
who opposed me in the field." Well had it been for him
and his country, had he been more prudent, and, as his

* Ramsey's Tennessee. 240-41 ; General John S. Preston's Address at the King's Moun-
tain Celebration in October, 1855. P- 60. Ramsey states, that Captain Edmondson received
a mortal wound in the breast, while Charles Bowen. one of his soldiers, says he was shot
in the head. He may have been shot both in the head and body.

AND ITS HEROES. 257

superiors had advised, taken shelter whenever it could be
found, for he had scarcely concluded his brave utterance,
when a rifle ball struck him in the breast. He fell and
expired. *

The " red-haired Campbell — the claymore of the Argyle
gleaming in his hand, and his blue eye glittering with a
lurid flame," wherever he was, dashing here and there
along the line, was himself a host. His clarion voice rang
out above the clash of resounding arms and the peals of
successive riflery, encouraging his heroic mountaineers to
victory. And thus the battle raged with increased fury — the
mountain men constantly gaining more confidence, and
steadily lessening the number of their foes.

Nor were the other columns idle. Major Chronicle
and Lieutenant Colonel Hambright led their little band of
South Fork boys up the north-east end of the mountain,
where the ascent was more abrupt than elsewhere, save
where Campbell's men made their attack. As they reached
the base of the ridge, with Chronicle some ten paces in
advance of his men, he raised his military hat, crying out —
" Face to the hill ! " He had scarcely uttered his command,
when a ball struck him, and he fell ; and William Rabb,
within some six feet of Chronicle, was killed almost in-
stantly thereafter. The men steadily pressed on, under the
leadership of Lieutenant Colonel Hambright, Major Joseph
Dickson, and Captains Mattocks, Johnston, White, Espey
and Martin — a formidable list of officers for so small a body
of men ; but they all took their places in the line, and fought
with determined heroism. Before they reached the crest of
the mountain, the enemy charged bayonet — said to have
been led by DePeyster — first firing off their guns, by which
Robert Henry supposed that Captain Mattocks and John
Boyd were killed, and William Gilmer, a brother of the

* Garden's Anecdotes, second series, p. 212, presumably communicated for that work
by Judge Peter Johnston, of Abingdon, Virginia, a distinguished officer of Lee's Legion
during the Revolution, and the ancestor of the present Gen. Joseph E. Johnston, and
Hon. John W. Johnston, United States Senator from that State.
17

258 KING 'S MO UNTAIN

noted scout, and John Chittim wounded — the latter of
Captain Martin's company, was shot in his side, making an
orifice, through which, according to tradition, a silk hand-
kerchief could be drawn, and yet he recovered, living to a
good old age. *

One gallant young fellow, Robert Henry, then in his
sixteenth year, had taken his position behind a log stretched
across a hollow ; and was getting ready to give the enemy
another shot, when the bayonet chargers came dashing
along. One of the enemy was advancing rapidly on
young Henry, who was in the act of cocking his gun, when
his antagonist's bayonet glanced along Henry's gun-barrel,
passing clear through one of his hands, and penetrating into
his thigh. Henry, in the melee \ had shot the Tory, and
both fell to the ground — the young Whig hero completely
transfixed. Henry was pretty well enveloped in powder-
smoke ; but sad and helpless as was his condition, he could
not help observing that many of his South Fork friends
were not more than a gun's length ahead of the Tory ba}^-
onets, and the farthest could not have exceeded twenty feet,
when they fired, with deadly effect, upon their pursuers,
and retired to the bottom of the hill, quickly re-loading, and
in turn chasing their enemies up the mountain.

William Caldwell, one of Henry's companions, seeing
his situation, pulled the bayonet out of his thigh ; but find-
ing it yet sticking fast to the young soldier's hand, gave the
wounded limb a kick with his boot, which loosened the
bloody instrument from its hold. Henry suffered more in
the operation of extracting the bavonet, than when the
Briton made the effective thrust, driving it through his hand
and into his thigh. Again upon his feet, he picked up his
gun with his uninjured hand, and found it empty — how, he
could not tell ; but supposed, as he received the terrible
bayonet thrust, that he must, almost instinctively, have
touched the trigger, and discharged his rifle, and that the

-MS. letter of Dr. C. L. Hunter.

AND ITS HEROES. 259

ball must have cut some main artery of his antagonist, as
he bled profusely.*

Another incident of the battle : When William Twitty,
who behaved so gallantly in the defence of Graham's Fort
the preceding summer, and now serving among the South
Fork or Lincoln boys, discovered that his most intimate
crony had been shot down by his side, he believed that he
knew from the powder-smoke, from behind which tree the
fatal ball had sped ; and watching his opportunity to avenge
the death of his friend, he had not long to wait, for soon he
observed a head poking itself out from its shelter, when he
quickly fired, and the Tory fell. After the battle, Twitty
repaired to the tree and found one of his neighbors, a well-
known Loyalist, with his brains blown out.f a^^a_<$

Abram Forney, a brave soldier of Captain AW>Ukj»
Johnston's company, of the Lincoln men, used in after
years to relate this incident of the battle : When the contest
had become warm and well-maintained on both sides, a
small party of Whigs, not relishing the abundance of lead
flying all around them, and occasionally cutting down some
gallant comrade at their side, concluded to take temporary
shelter behind an old hollow chestnut tree — a mere shell —
which stood near, and from its walls to pour forth a
destructive fire upon the enemy. The British, however,
presently observed the quarter whence this galling fire
proceeded, and immediately returned their compliments in

*MS. narrative of Robert Henry: MS. letter of Robert C Gillam, Sept 29th. 1858,
giving statements derived from an interview with Mr. Henry.

Mr. Henry was bor,nina rail pen, in then Rowan, now Iredall County, North Carolina.
January 10th, 1765. Full of patriotism, though young, he shared in the trials and perils of
the Revolution, and in due time recovered from the severe wounds he received at King's
Mountain. In 1795, he was one of the party who ran the boundary line between North
Carolina and Tennessee. He subsequently studied law, and practised his profession many
years in Buncombe County. He served in the House of Commons in 1833 and 1834. He
was a clear and forcible public speaker; and his memory deserves to be held in grateful
remembrance for preserving the narrative of the King's Mountain campaign and battle, so
frequently cited in this work. He died in the new County of Clay, North Carolina,
January 6th, 1863, within four days of attaining the patriarchal age of ninety-eight years,
and he was undoubtedly the last of the heroes of King's Mountain.

\ MS. correspondence of Wm. L. Twitty, grandson of William Twitty.

260 KING 'S MO UNTAIN

the shape of a few well-aimed volleys at the old shell, com-
pletely perforating it with balls, and finally shivering it in
pieces.*

V/hen Cleveland's regiment hastened to their appointed
place of attack, under a heavy fire while on the way, their
brave commander exclaimed, pointing significantly to the
mountain, "Yonder is your enemy, and the enemy of
mankind!" They were soon hotly engaged with the
Loyalists lining the brow of the eminence before them.
From the Colonel down to the humblest private they all
heartily detested Tories, and fought them with a resolute
determination to subdue them at all hazards. They sought
all natural places of protection — trees, logs, rocks, and
bushes ; when Cleveland would, ever and anon, vocifer-
ously urge onward and upward his troops — "a little nearer
to them, my brave men!" And the men of Wilkes and
Surry would then dart from their places of concealment, and
make a dash for more advanced positions. Occasionally
one of their number would fall, which only served to nerve
on the survivors to punish the Tories yet more effectually.

In one of these bold and dashing forays, Lieutenant
Samuel Johnson, of Captain Joel Lewis' company, was more
adventurous than prudent, and found himself and men in a
most dangerous and exposed position, which resulted in the
loss of several of his soldiers, and receiving himself a severe
wound in the abdomen. Three bullet holes were made in
one skirt of his coat, and four in the other. After Lieuten-
ant Johnson had fallen, and while the contest was yet
fiercely raging around him, he repeatedly threw up his
hands, shouting — " Huzza^ boys!" The salvation of his
life was attributed to the scanty amount of food he had taken
during the three days preceding the battle, so difficult had
it been to obtain it. f Of his fellow officers of Cleveland's
regiment who were also among the wounded, were Major

*Dr. C L. Hunter, in Wheeler s North Carolina, ii, 245.

+ Pension statement of Johnson's widow, substantiated by surviving witnesses.

AND ITS HEROES. 261

Micaj ah Lewis, Captain Joel Lewis, Captain Minor Smith,
and Lieutenant James M. Lewis ; the three wounded Lewises
were brothers, and a noble triumvirate they were. Daniel
Siske and Thomas Bicknell were among the killed of the
Wilkes regiment, as the manuscript records of that county
show.

Many a mortal combat and hand-to-hand rencontre,
took place in this part of the line. Charles Gordon, appar-
ently a young officer, made a quick, bold movement into
the midst of the enemy, seizing a Tory officer by his cue,
and commenced dragging him down the mountain, when
the fellow suddenly drew and discharged his pistol, break-
ing Gordon's left arm ; whereupon the latter, with his sword
in hand, killed the officer outright. The whole affair was
but the work of a moment, and was regarded at the time as
an intrepid act — a prodigy of valor. * David Witherspoon,
also of Cleveland's regiment, in getting into close quarters,
discovered one of the enemy prostrate on the ground,
loading and firing in rapid succession. Witherspoon drew
his rifle on him and fired, when the Red Coat, wounded,
pitched the butt of his gun, in submission, towards his
antagonist, throwing up his hands imploring mercy ; and
when Witherspoon reached him, he found his mouth full of
balls, chewing them so as to make them jagged, and render
the wounds they might inflict more fatal. \

Early in the engagement, Colonel Cleveland's noble
steed, "Roebuck," received two wounds, and he had to dis-
mount ; yet, unwieldly as he was, he managed under the
excitement surrounding him, to keep fully up with his men,

*MS. statements of Rev. Z. H. Gordon, and Mrs Sarah C Law, nephew and niece of
the hero of this adventure. Charles Gordon was a native of the Fredericksburg region, in
Virginia, early settling in what subsequently became Wilkes County, North Carolina,
where he filled public positions, and became a Major in the militia. He married a daughter
of General Lenoir, dying near what is now Patterson, Caldwell County, in that State,
March 24, 1799. at the age of about thirty-seven years. Charles G. McDowell, of Shufords-
ville, N. C, and the lady of Hon James C Harper of Patterson, are his grand-children,
and Mrs. C A. Cilley. of Lenoir, N. C, is his great grand-daughter.

fMS. letter of Col. J. H. Witherspoon, a son of David Witherspoon, Nov. 25, 1880^
giving the incident as related to him by his father.

262 KING 'S MO UNTAIN

and, with rifle in hand, gallantly fulfilling all the duties of
the occasion ; until he was at length remounted, one of his
men bringing him another horse. * An incident occurred,
near the close of the contest, of an exciting character, and
which very nearly cost the heroic Colonel his life. Charles
Bowen of Captain William Edmondson's company, of
Campbell's regiment, heard vaguely that his brother, Lieu-
tenant Reece Bowen, had been killed, and was much dis-
tressed and exasperated in consequence. On the spur of
the moment, and withou^ due consideration of the danger
he incurred, he commenced a wild and hurried search for
his brother, hoping he might yet find him in a wounded
condition only. He soon came across his own fallen Cap-
tain Edmondson, shot in the head, and dying ; and hurry-
ing from one point to another, he at length found himself
within fifteen or twenty paces of the enemy, and near to
Colonel Cleveland, when he slipped behind a tree.

At this time, the enemy began to waver, and show
signs of surrendering. Bowen promptly shot down the first
man among them who hoisted a flag ; and immediately, as
the custom was, turned his back to the tree, to re-load,
when Cleveland advanced on foot, suspecting from the
wildness of his actions that he was a Tory, and demanded
the countersign, which Bowen, in his half-bewildered state
of mind, had, for the time being, forgotten. Cleveland,
now confirmed in his conjectures, instantly levelled his rifle
at Bo wen's breast, and attempted to shoot ; but fortunately
it missed fire. Bowen enraged, and perhaps hardly aware
of his own act, jumped at and seized Cleveland b}^ the
collar, snatched his tomahawk from his belt, and would in
another moment have buried it in the Colonel's brains, had
not his arm been arrested by a soldier, named Buchanan, who
knew both parties. Bowen, now coming to himself, recol-
lected the countersign, and gave it — " Buford ;" when
Cleveland dropped his gun, and clasped Bowen in his arms

* Sharp's narrative.

AND ITS HEROES. 263

for joy, that each had so narrowly and unwittingly been re-
strained from sacrificing the other.* Well has a noble
South Carolina orator, a grandson of the illustrious Camp-
bell, described him — " Cleveland, so brave and yet so
gentle !"f

* Bowen's MS. pension statement. 1832, then of Blount County, Tennessee.
+ Gen. John S. Preston's King's Mountain Address, 1855. p. 60.

264 KING 'S MO UNTAIN

CHAPTER XIII.

The Battle.— October 7th, 1780.

Further Progress and Incidents of the Contest. — Heroic Act of William
Robertson. — Thomas Robertson Shoots a Tricky Tory. — Treatment
of the Tory, Branson, by Captain Withrow. — Captain Lenoir's
Part in the Battle. — Captain Robert Sevier Wounded. — Alarm
concerning Tarleton. — Mistake caused by Campbell 's Bald Faced
Horse. — Campbell's Daring Reconnoitre. — Anecdote of Cleveland.
— Colonel Williams' Patriotic Conduct. — Willia??i Giles "Creased"
— Revives, and Renews the Fight. — Thomas Young's Relation of
Colonel Williams Fall. — Major Hammond's Desperate Charge,
and singular Premonition of one of his Men. — Campbell and Shelby
Renewing the Attack. — Lieutenant- Colonel Hambright Wounded. —
Ferguson s Pride and Recklessness — Attempting to Escape, is
Mortally Wounded. — Various Statements of Colonel Williams'
Fall. — Furious Charge of Campbell's and Shelby's Men. — Several
Corps driven down the Mountain. — British Over-Shoot the Whigs. —
North Carolina Tories first to Weaken. — Colonel Graham's Unex-
pected Return. — Ferguson's Fall — DePeyster Vindicated. — Whigs
slow to Recognize the White Flag. — Young Sevier's Shooting
Paroxysm. — Efforts of Shelby and Campbell to Quell the Firmg of
the Whigs. — Three Rousing Cheers for the Great Victory. —
Colonel Williams' Shot — an Exciting Scene. — Conflicting Stories
of his Fatal Charge. — British Officers Surrender their Swords. —
Ferguson's Heroic Conduct in the Battle — his Mistakes. — He was
Mortally Wotcnded, not Killed Out- Right. — Curiosity of the Whigs
to View his Body. — His Mistresses. — Privations and Sufferings of
the Mountaineers.-- Strength of the Tories — Absence of their
Leaders. — Their Fighting Qualities. — Dismay of the Southern
British Commanders. — Their Ignorance of the Over-Mountain
Whig Settlements. — Boone not on the Campaign. — Duration of the
Battle. — Strength and Losses of the British and Tories. — Colonels
John and Patrick Moore. — Number of Prisoners Taken. — Errors
in Reports of Losses. — Names of Whigs Killed and Wounded. —
Death of Captain Sevier. — William Moore Wounded. — Remarkable
Losses in Campbell's Regiment. — Captains Weir and Shannon

AND ITS HEROES. 265

Arrive . — Counting the Dead. — Caring for the Wounded. — Guard-
ing the Prisoners. — Scarcity of Provisions. — King's Mountain
Souvenirs. — Heart- Rending Scenes of the Battle-Field. — The
Night after the Action.

All the different corps fought well at King's Mountain.
The Burke and Rutherford battalion, under McDowell and
Hampton, performed their full share in the engagement.
Among Hampton's men was William Robertson, who
during the fight was shot completely through the body, the
ball entering at one side, and passing out at the other.
He fell quite helpless to the ground. His wound was
apparently mortal, and chancing to recognize one of his
neighbors lying down near him, he anxiously inquired if he,
too, was wounded. The reply was, that his gun was choked,
or something of the kind, and would not fire. Robertson
then gave him his rifle. "Give me your shot-bag, also,
old fellow," he added, for his own supply was exhausted.
With his own hand the fallen patriot delivered him
his ammunition. But God was better to the wounded
hero than his fears ; for in due time he recovered, and raised
a family, living near Brittain, in Rutherford County, on
the farm nOw occupied by William L. Twitty. *

Thomas Robertson, a brother of the wounded man, was
posted behind a tree, when a Tory neighbor, named
Lafferty, discovering him, called him by name ; and Rob-
ertson peering around the tree to see, if he could, who had
spoken to him, when a ball sped quickly past him, cutting
the bark of the tree near his head. Robertson instantly
fired back, before his antagonist could regain his position,
mortally wounding the tricky Tory, who was near enough
to exclaim, and be heard, " Robertson, you have ruined
me !" uThed — 1 help you," responded the Whig, and then
re-loading his rifle, renewed the fight for freedom. A Tory
named Branson was wounded and fell ; and seeing his

*Gen. Lenoir, in Wheeler's North Carolina, ii, 107; MS. correspondence of Wm. L.
Twitty, who derived the incident from A. B. Long.

266 KING JS MO UNTAIN

Whig brother-in-law, Captain James Withrow, of Hampton's
men, begged his relation to assist him. "Look to your
friends for help," was the response, evincive of the bitter-
ness that existed between the Whigs and Loyalists in those
times. *

All of Captain William Lenoir's company of Cleveland's
regiment, save half a dozen, remained behind with the other
footmen at Green river, while the Captain himself went
forward in a private capacity, falling into line wherever he
found it most convenient — fighting "on his own hook."
He fell in immediately behind Winston's men, in front of
the right hand column, where he could see what was going
on under McDowell and Hampton. He says he advanced
the nearest way toward the enemy, under a heavy fire,
until he got within thirty paces. He noticed the particular
instance of bravery just related of William Robertson.
"About that time," he adds, "I received a slight wound
in my side, and another in my left arm ; and, after that, a
bullet went through my hair above where it was tied, and
my clothes were cut in several places. "f Participating in
this close and hotly-contested action, it is sufficiently evident,
was no child's play to those engaged in it.

Sevier's column 0t length gained the summit of the hill,
driving the enemy's left flank upon his center. \ But they
were not subjected to any bayonet charges — save a portion
of the left, who hastened to the support of Campbell's regi-
ment, when hard pressed, and became intermingled with
them. Captain Robert Sevier was mortally wounded
towards the close of the action, and becoming faint and
thirsty, was assisted, by his brother, Joseph Sevier, some
distance to a hollow, where there was a spring of water.

The last time Campbell and Shelby's men were driven
down the declivity, the mountaineers learned in some way —

*MS. correspondence of W. L. T witty, who adds, that the gun that Thomas Robert-
son used in the battle, is in the possession of one of his decendants.

\ General Lenoir's narrative, in Wheeler's North Carolina, ii, 107.
X Official report of the Colonels to General Gates.

AND ITS HEROES. 267

perhaps by deceptive shouting on the part of the enemy —
that Tarleton with his horse had come, which seemed for the
moment to have a dispiriting effect ; when the officers, includ-
ing Colonel Sevier, rode along the line, calling upon the
men to halt, assuring them that Tarleton was not there ; and
if he were, they could also make him, like Ferguson's
Rangers, turn their backs, and flee up the mountain. This
time the riflemen pressed upon the enemy with the utmost
firmness and determination. *

In the beginning of the action, Colonel Campbell's
famous Bald Face, a black horse, proving skittish, he ex-
changed him with his namesake, a Mr. Campbell, of his
own corps, for a bay animal ; and Bald Face was sent to
the rear, and placed in charge of the Colonel's servant,
John Broddy, who was a tall, well-proportioned mulatto,
and in the distance very much resembled his master. \
Broddy 's curiosity prompted him to ride up within two
hundred yards of the raging battle, saying " he had come
to see what his master and the rest were doing." J Broddy,
writh his coat off, and sitting upon Bald Face, unwittingly
deceived Colonels Shelby and Sevier, Captain Moses
Shelby, and perhaps others, into the belief that it was Col-
onel Campbell himself, intently watching at a respectful
distance, the progress of the engagement. But Campbell was
all this time in the thickest of the fight, riding his bay

-'•Conversations with Colonel G. W. ^eviei, son of Colonel Sevier.

f Colonel Cleveland was something of a wag. While in camp, en route for King's
Mountain, the obese and jolly Colonel walked up to Campbell's markee, and seeing him
at the entrance and very much resembling his servant, pretended to mistake him for the
latter, and accosted him with—" Halloo, Jack, did you take good care of my noble Roe-
buck when you fed your master's horse? — Ah! I ask your pardon, Colonel Campbell ; you
and your servant look so much alike, led to the mistake!" The joke was received, as it
was given, in the best of good humor, and was much enjoyed among the officers. This
anecdote was related to the author in 1843. DY Benjamin Starritt, of Fayette County, Tenn.,
who was one of Lee's Legion in the Revolution, and Lee's and Campbell's corps fought
together at the battle of Guilford ; and Starritt personally knew Cleveland, and had two
brothers-in-law under Sevier at King's Mountain.

J No doubt others of the sons of Africa, beside Broddy, aided in menial occupations
on the campaign. It is worthy of record, that " there is a tradition in the King's Moun-
tain region," says Colonel J. R. Logan, " that something more than a dozen negroes were
under arms in the battle, in behalf of liberty, and demeaned themselves bravely."

268 KING'S MO UNTAIN

horse till he became exhausted, when he abandoned him,
and was the remainder of the battle at the head of his men,
on foot, with his coat off and his shirt collar open.*

It was during that critical period of the battle, when the
final rally of the Virginians had been made, and after Col-
onel Campbell's horse had given out, that the intrepid chief
ascended the mountain on foot, several paces in advance of
his men ; and, having reached the point of the ridge, he
climbed over a steep rock, and took a view of the position
of the enemy within a very short distance of their lines, and
discovered that they were retreating from behind the rocky
rampart they had hitherto occupied with so much security
to themselves, and injury to the mountaineers, when he
rejoined his men unharmed, f

Colonel Williams, who felt offended that his merit — and
his superior rank, also — had not been recognized by the other
Colonels, at first refused to take part in the battle ; \ but he
could not, after all, when the pinch came, resist so glorious
an opportunity to do his country service, and redeem, it
may be, the errors of the past. Williams wheeled chival-
rously into line on the left of Shelby, exclaiming to his
followers, " Come on, my boys — the old wagoner never yet
backed out." § Though his numbers were few, Williams

* Statements of Lieutenant Newell and James Snodgrass, of Campbell's regiment, and
Thomas Maxwell of Shelby's men, together with the published account of General John
Campbell, in the Richmond Enquirer, June 24, 1823, with the appended letter of "J: C,"
dated Washington County, Virginia, June 13, 1823; corroborated by statements of Ex-
Governor David Campbell, of Abingdon, Va., to the author. General Campbell asserts in
his article, that Andrew Evins also declared that Colonel Campbell rode his bay horse in
the action until he gave out.

William Moore, Israel Hayter, James Keyes, Benjamin White, William Anderson, of
Campbell's regiment; Jacob Norris, James Pierce, and Gideon Harrison of Sevier's; and
Joseph Phillips, of Cleveland's, also testify to the fact that it was Colonel Campbell's bay,
not his bald faced horse that he rode in the action. Much confusion grew out of the
mistake that it was Bald Face that Campbell rode on the field, and on which he was supposed
to have retired to a place of safety long before the conclusion of the battle. Several of
Campbell's own men, and those who were nearest to him, and had the best means of know-
ing, unite in declaring that this is a grievous error. See, also. Southern Literary Messenger
September, 1845 ; and Foote's Sketches of North Carolina, 271.

■J- Ensign Robert Campbell's narrative; Holston Intelligencer, October, 1810.

J MS. letter of Dr. M. A. Moore to Dr. J. H. Logan.

j Dr. C L. Hunter, in Wheeler's North Carolina, ii, 246.

AND ITS HEROES. 269

had several good and experienced partisan officers —
Brandon, Hammond, Hayes, Roebuck and Dillard among
them ; and their intrepid example had an inspiring effect
upon the men under their command.

Among the " bravest of the brave "who fought under
Williams and Brandon, was William Giles, some of whose
heroic adventures in the Union region in South Carolina,
have already been related. The battle-field of King's
Mountain was a fitting scene for such a fearless spirit.
During the contest, into which he entered with his accus-
tomed zeal, he received a ball through the back of his neck,
and fell as if dead. William Sharp, his fellow-hero, his neigh-
bor, his friend and relation, stopped a moment, brushed away
a tear from his eye, saying — " Poor fellow, he is dead ; but
if I am spared a little longer, I will avenge his fall." After
firing his rifle several times, Sharp, to his astonishment, saw
Giles raise himself up, rest upon his elbow, and commence
loading his gun. He had got creased, as it is said of horses
when shot through the upper part of the neck, and falling
helpless to the ground, after a while recover. Giles was soon
upon his feet again, fought through the battle, and lived to
a good old age. His son of the same name, in after vears
represented both York and Union Counties in the South
Carolina Legislature.*

Thomas Young, also under Williams and Brandon, re-
lates a touching incident. An uncle of his, one McCrary,
was then a prisoner with the British on Edisto Island ; and
his wife, for fear her husband would be hung, compelled
her youthful son, Matthew McCrary, to turn out and join
Ferguson. "Just after we had reached the top of the hill,"
says Young, " Matthew discovered me, and ran from the
British line, and threw his arms around me for joy. I told
him to get a gun and fight ; he said he could not ; when I
bade him let me go, that I might fight." Whether young
McCrary found a gun, and shared in the engagement, we

* MS. notes of Hon. Daniel Wallace.

270 KING 'S MO UNTAIN

are not informed ; but certain it is, the lad had thrown
away his British rifle, and the enemy had one less follower
among their number. *

" I well remember," continues Young, " how I behaved.
Ben Hollings worth and I took right up the side of the
mountain, and fought our way, from tree to tree, up to the
summit. I recollect I stood behind one tree, and fired
until the bark was nearly all knocked off, and my eyes
pretty well filled with it. One fellow shaved me pretty
close, for his bullet took a piece out of my gun-stock.
Before I was aware of it, I found myself apparently between
my own regiment and the enemy, as I judged from seeing
the paper which the Whigs wore in their hats, and the pine
twigs the Tories wore in theirs, these being the badges of
distinction.

" On the top of the mountain," Mr. Young adds, "in
the thickest of the fight, I saw Colonel Williams fall, and a
braver or a better man never died upon the field of battle.
I had seen him but once before, that day — it was in the
beginning of the action, as he charged by me at full speed
around the mountain. Toward the summit a ball struck
his horse under the jaw, when he commenced stamping as
if he were in a nest of yellow jackets. Colonel Williams
threw the reins over the animal's neck — sprang to the
ground, and dashed onward. The moment I heard the
cry that Colonel Williams was shot, I ran to his assistance,
for I loved him as a father, he had ever been so kind to me,
almost always carrying a cake in his pocket for me and his
little son, Joseph. They carried him into a tent, and
sprinkled some water in his face. As he revived, his first
words were, * For God's sake, boys, don't give up the hill !'
I remember it as well as if it had occurred yesterday. I
left him in the arms of his son Daniel, and returned to the
field to avenge his fall."f

* Saye*s Memoir of Mcjunkin.

\ Narrative of Major Thomas Young, drawn up by Col. R. J. Gage, of Union County,
S. C, and published in the Orion magazine, Oct. 1843.

AND ITS HEROES. 271

In one of the charges on the enemy, Major Hammond,
of Williams' corps, full of his usual dash and intrepidity,
broke through the British lines with a small squad of brave
followers, when the enemy attempted to intercept their
return. Seeing his own and soldiers' perilous situation,
Hammond instantly faced about, ordering his men to join
him in cutting their way back, which, by dint of the most
heroic efforts, they successfully effected. *

A singular incident occurred, which Major Hammond
used to relate in connection with the contest. One of the
men in his command had fought in many a battle, and had
always proved himself true as steel. On the night preced-
ing the action — in some snatch of sleep, perhaps, while on
the march — he had a presentiment, that if he took part in
the impending battle he would be killed. Before reaching
King's Mountain, he concluded that he would, for once in
his life, be justifiable, under the circumstances, in skulk-
ing from danger, and thereby, as he believed, preserve his
life for future usefulness to his country. So he stole off,
and hid himself. He was missed, when an orderly went
in search of him, and finally discovered him in an out-of-
the-way place, all covered up, head and body, with his
blanket. Though taken to the front, he soon found means
to absent himself again ; but his lurking place was again
found, and he once more hurried to the front, just before
the final attack. He evidently now made up his mind to
do his duty, and let consequences take care of themselves ;
and during the action he had posted himself behind a stump
or tree, and evidently peering his head out to get a shot,
received a fatal bullet in his forehead, killing him instantly.
Subsequently learning the cause of his singular conduct in
endeavoring to evade taking part in the contest, Major Ham-
mond regretted that he had not knowrn it at the time, so that
he could have respected the soldier's conscientious convic-

* Obituary notice of Col. Samuel Hammond, September, 1842, written by his son-in-
law, James H. R. Washington, corroborated by Mrs. Washington to the author, as related
to her by her father.

272 KING 'S MO UN TAIN

tions ; but, at the moment, suspecting that he was under the
cowardly influence of fear, the Major could not, and would
not, tolerate anything of the kind in his command. *

And thus the battle waged with alternate advances and
repulses, the columns of Campbell and Shelby having been
two or three times driven down the mountain at the point
of the bayonet — the last one almost a rout ; but the brave
mountaineers had learned from experience when to stop in
their retreat, face about, and push back their assailants.
In this last desperate repulse, some of the Whig riflemen
were transfixed, while others fell head-long over the cliffs. f
When one column would drive the enemy back to their
starting place, the next regiment would raise the battle-cry
— " Come on, men, the enemy are retreating;" and when
the Provincials and Loyalists would make a dash upon this
party of mountain men, and would, in turn, be chased
back by them, then the other Whig riflemen, who had just
before been driven down the hill, would now advance, return-
ing the shout — "Come on, men, the enemy are retreating !" \
Thus, as one of Campbell's men expressed it — "When the
enemy turned, we turned." § " Three times," says Mills'
Statistics, " did the Britons charge with bayonet down the
hill ; as often did the Americans retreat ; and the moment
the Britons turned their backs, the Americans shot from
behind every tree, and every rock, and laid them prostrate."
It was the happy fruition of Shelby's perpetual battle cry —
<c Never shoot until you see an enemy, and never see an
enemy, without bringing him down." ||

By this time the two wings of the mountaineers were
pressing the enemy on both sides of the mountain, so that
Ferguson's men had ample employment all around the emi-

* Dr. A. L. Hammond's sketch of King's Mountain battle, in Charleston Courier,
June 2i, 1859.

f Hamilton's Republic of the United States, ii, 161.

t General Graham's narrative.

§ James Crow's statement.

|| Niles' National Register, iv, 403.

AND ITS HEROES. 273

nence, without being able to repair to each other's relief,
however much they needed it. At length the Provincial
Rangers and their fellow chargers, led by the intrepid De-
Peyster, began to grow weary and discouraged — steadily
decreasing in numbers, and making no permanent inroads
upon their tireless opposers, who, when beaten down the
mountain, did not choose to stay there simply to oblige
their enemies. From the south-western portion of the
ridge, the Rangers and Tories began to give way, and were
doggedly driven by Campbell and Shelby, aided by some of
Sevier's men, and perhaps others, intermingled with them.

Near the close of the action, Lieutenant-Colonel Ham-
bright, while encouraging his men, received a shot through
his thigh, making an ugly wound — the ball passing between
the thigh bone and his saddle, cutting some arteries, and
filling his boot with blood. Discovering that the Colonel
was wounded, Samuel Moore, of York County, South Caro-
lina, proposed to assist him from his horse, which he declined,
assigning as a reason, that it would distract the attention of
his men, and, as he did not feel sick nor faint, he preferred
to remain with them as long as he could sustain himself in
the saddle. Then pressing forward, he exclaimed in his
broken German: " Huzza, my prave poys, fight on a few
minutes more, and te battle will be over!" Hearing this
encouraging shout, Ferguson, it is said, responded : ''Huzza,
brave boys, the day is our own !" * It was among the last
of the British leader's utterances to animate his men in a
hopeless struggle.

Dr. Ramsay, in his History of Tennessee, asserts that the
Tories had begun to show flags in token of surrender, even
before Ferguson was disabled, seeing which, he rode up, in
two instances, and cut them down with his sword. It was

*MS correspondence of the venerable Abraham Hardin, who knew Colonel Ham-
bright, and of Gill. Hambright, his descendant. Colonel Hambright, during the action,
had his hat perforated with three bullet holes, and this memorial of the battle was long
retained in the family. Though his wound was a serious one, he soon recovered ; but as
some of the sinews of his thigh were cut, he ever after had a halt in his walk.
18

274 KING 'S MO UNTAIN

suggested to him by some of his officers, that it was useless
to prolong the contest, and throw their lives away. The
slaughter was great, the wounded were numerous, and
further resistance would be unavailing. But Ferguson's
proud heart could not think of surrendering ; he despised
his enemies, and swore " he never would yield to such a
d — d banditti." Captain DePeyster, his second in com-
mand, having the courage of his convictions, and " con-
vinced from the first of the utter futility of resistance at the
point selected, advised a surrender, as soon as he became
satisfied that Ferguson would not fall back upon the (sup-
posed) rapidly advancing relief. He appears to have urged
the only course which could have saved the little army,
viz : a precipitate, but orderly, retreat upon less exposed
points, for the purpose of assisting the General-in-
Chief in his attempt to re-inforce the detachment — so im-
portant to future and ultimate success — by drawing back,
nearer to some point, which alone, re-inforcements could
reach, and where, alone, they could be made available.
This advice was founded on what the event proved : that
the British were about to be slaughtered to no purpose, like
' ducks in a coop,' without inflicting any commensurate loss.
The event proved the justice of this counsel." *

At length, satisfied that all was lost, and firmly resolving
not to fall into the hands of the despised "Back-Water men,"
Ferguson, with a few chosen friends, made a desperate at-
tempt to break through the Whig lines, on the south-east-
ern side of the mountain, and escape. The intrepid British
leader made a bold dash for life and freedom, with his sword
in his left hand, cutting and slashing till he had broken it.
Colonel Shelby mentions the sword incident, and Benjamin
Sharp corroborates it ; while several others unite in testify-
ing to the fact that he spurred his horse, and rushed out,
attempting to escape, f Before the action commenced, it

*Gen. DePeyster, in Historical Magazine, March, 1869, 195.

•J- Shelby's narrative in American Review ; Shelby, as cited in Haywood's Tennessee,
71; Sharp's statement in American Pioneer, February, 1843; MS. account of King's

AND ITS HEROES. 275

was well known that Ferguson wielded his sword in his left
hand, and that he wore a light or checked duster or hunt-
ing-shirt for an outer garment, and the admonition had
gone from soldier to soldier — " Look out for Ferguson with
his sword in his left hand, wearing a light hunting-shirt !" *

One of Sevier's men, named Gilleland, who had received
several wounds, and was well-nigh exhausted, seeing
the advance of Ferguson and his party, attempted to arrest
the career of the great leader, but his gun snapped ; when
he called out to Robert Young, of the same regiment —
"There's Ferguson — shoot him !" f " I'll try and see what
Sweet-Lips can do," muttered Young, as he drew a sharp
sight, discharging his rifle, when Ferguson fell from his
horse, and his associates were either killed or driven back.
Several rifle bullets had taken effect on Ferguson, appar-
ently about the same time, and a number claimed the
honor of having shot the fallen chief — among them, one
Kusick, another of Sevier's sharp-shooters. \ Certain it is,
that Ferguson received six or eight wounds, one of them
through the head. He was unconscious when he fell, and
did not long survive. It was in the region of Sevier s col-
umn that he received his fatal shots ; and not very far, it
would seem, from where Colonel Shelby had posted Ensign
Robert Campbell to watch the motions of the enemy so
strongly ensconced behind the range of rocks.

Ensign Campbell gives us some further insight into
Ferguson's attempt at flight. It was, as he represents, when

Mountain by an unknown member of Campbell's corps; Hon. Wm. C. Preston's Defence
of Colonel Campbell, 1822; MS. correspondence of Ex-Governor David Campbell, and Dr.
A. Q. Bradley; conversations with Colonel Thomas H. Shelby. Mills, in his Statistics of
South Carolina, asserts that "Ferguson attempted to force his way ; " and Wheeler's
North Carolina declares that " he made a desperate move to break through the American
lines." The Political Magazine, for February, 1781, states while " advancing to reconnoitre
the enemy, who were retiring, he fell by a random shot."

* Statements of James and George W. Sevier ; Silas McBee, Colonel George Wilson,
Colonel Thomas H. Shelby, and others. Mrs. Ellet, in her Women of the Revolution,
iii, 293, speaks of the check-shirt disguise.

t Gilleland recovered from his wounds, and lived many years.

\ Conversations with James and George W. Sevier, and Colonel George Wilson ; and
MS. correspondence of Dr. J. G. M. Ramsey.

276 KING'S MOUNTAIN

Colonels Campbell and Shelby were pressing the enemy
from the south-western extremity of the mountain, and Fer-
guson's men were falling fast on every hand. He had sent
DePeyster with the Provincial Rangers to strengthen the
front; and in reaching the point assigned him, he had to
pass through a blaze of riflery, losing many of his men in
the effort. Ferguson's small cavalry corps, under Lieuten-
ant Taylor — consisting of twenty men, made up from his
Rangers — were ordered to mount, and press forward to aid
DePeyster in his heroic purpose ; but as fast as they mount-
ed, they were mostly picked off by the Whig marksmen.
Driven to desperation, Ferguson endeavored to make
his escape, accompanied by two Loyalist Colonels, all
mounted, who charged on that part of the line which
they thought was most vulnerable — " in the quarter where
Sevier's men were," as related by James Sevier, one of
their number, and Benjamin Starritt, derived from his two
brothers-in-law, who served in Sevier's regiment ; and, as
Ensign Campbell stated, " on that part of the line defended
by his party." As soon as Ferguson reached the Whig
front, he fell ; and the other two officers, attempting to
retreat, soon shared the same fate. One of these Tory
officers killed was, doubtless, Colonel Vezey Husband, and
the other — not a Colonel, as Ensign Campbell supposed —
but Major Daniel Plummer.

Some accounts represent that Colonel Williams sought
a personal encounter with Ferguson, determined to kill him,
or die in the attempt. This is more romantic than prob-
able. It could hardly have been so, since Ferguson was
shot some distance from where Williams must have received
his wounds, and on the opposite side of the hill ; and the
accounts pretty well agree, that Williams was wounded at
the very close of the conflict, when the enemy had begun
to exhibit their white flags, * while Ferguson was shot from

* Mills, in his Statistics of South. Carolina, states, that Colonel Williams ''had the
good fortune to encounter personally in battle Colonel Ferguson, who attempted to force

AND ITS HEROES. 277

his horse some little time before. The suggestion made by
Colonel Hill, in his manuscript narrative, that Colonel
Williams was shot by some of Lacey's men, who were in-
imical to him, and had sworn to take his life, is hardly
credible ; and, for the honor of humanity, we are con-
strained to discard so improbable and unpatriotic a supposi-
tion.

The last desperate grapple between Campbell's men —
assisted by Shelby's — and the enemy, just before the close
of the engagement, lasted twenty minutes* — and within

his way at this point. They both fell on the spot, being shot, it was supposed, by a ball
from the British side— it was the last gun fired."

Dr. Ramsay, the Tennessee historian, asserts that Colonel Williams " fell a victim to
the true Palmetto spirit, and intemperate eagerness for battle. Toward the close of the
engagement, he espied Ferguson riding near the line, and dashed toward him with the
gallant determination of a personal encounter. 'I will kill Ferguson, or die in the attempt!'
exclaimed Williams; and spurring his horse in the directior. of the enemy, received a bul-
let as he crossed their line. He survived till he heard that his antagonist was killed, and
his camp surrendered ; and amidst the shouts of victory by his triumphant countrvmen,
said : I die contented ;' and with a smile on his countenance, expired."

The late Dr. A. L. Hammond, son of Major Hammond, in an article on King's Moun-
tain battle, in the Charleston Courier, June 21, 1859 stated that " Williams' horse, wound-
ed and snorting with foam and blood at every bound, dashed forward. Ferguson turned
to receive him ; their swords crossed — nothing more, for at that instant a deadly volley
came from both sides, and the two combatants fell mortally wounded."

Ensign Robert Campbell states, that " Colonel Williams was shot through the body,
near the close of the action, in making an attempt to charge on Ferguson ; he lived long
enough to hear of the surrender of the British army, when he said: 'I die contented,
since we have gained the victory.' "

Dr. John H. Logan, the historian of the Up- Country of South Carolina, has preserved
among the MS. traditions he gathered many years ago, this account of Colonel Williams"
death: Williams and Ferguson fell nearly at the same time, on the eastern side of the
mountain. Williams, from a more favorable position than those occupied by Campbell
and Hambright, saw the magic influence of Ferguson 3 whistle Dashing to the front, his
horse throwing bloody foam from his mouth that had been struck by a ball, he was heard
to exclaim — " I'll silence that whistle or die in the attempt!" Quickly Ferguson was no
more ; and soon after, a ball from the enemy laid Williams mortally wounded on the hill-
side.

Still more romantic is Simms' statement in his History of South Carolina: " Tradition
reports that Williams and Ferguson perished by each other 6 hands ; that, after Ferguson
had fallen by the pistol of Williams, and lay wounded on the ground the latter approached
and offered him mercy ; and that his answer was a fatal bullet from the pistol of the dying
man !"

Much more probable is the statement of Dr. John Whelchel, of Williams' command,
doubtless an eye-witness, and a man of much intelligence. In his pension declaration, he
stat ^s that Colonel Williams received his fatal shot "immediately after the enemy had
hoisted a flag to .surrender." Lieutenant Joseph Hughes, of Brandon's men, makes a
similar statement. The narrative of Thomas Young already cited, also tends to divest
thes- romances of any claim to historic probability.

'■'■' "A British surgeon," says Lieutenant Newell, referring, doubtless, to Dr. Johnson,
"stated that he held his watch, and that the storm lasted twenty minutes."

278 KING'S MOUNTAIN

thirty or forty yards of each other ; and was the most hotly
contested part of the action. Campbell was on foot at the
head of his regiment — so much advanced in front as to be
in danger from the fire of his own men ; and his courageous
words were — " Boys, remember your liberty ! Come on!
come on ! my brave fellows ; another gun— another gun will
do it ! D — m them, we must have them out of this !" * It
was one incessant peal of fire-arms. The enemy made a
firm stand ; but after a while they were forced to retire some
distance along the crest of the mountain, towards their camp
at the north-eastern extremity, when they halted again for a
few moments. The brave men of Campbell and Shelby
weie sensibly aided by the heroic bravery of the left wing
under Cleveland, Lacey and Williams, who pressed, with
shouts of victory, upon the Tories in that quarter, which
tended to re-animate the Virginians and the Sullivan troops,
who, with re-doubled fury, fought like tigers. They drove
Ferguson's surviving Rangers and the Tories before them to
where their wagons were, behind which they made a rally ;
but they were soon driven from this covert, down into a
sunken or hollow place, by which time the Rangers were
mostly killed or disabled, and the Loyalists quite de-
moralized, f

Campbell's column was two or three times driven down,
or partly down the mountain ; Shelby says he was three
times repulsed — and Doctor Ferguson, in his Memoir of
his kinsman, Colonel Ferguson, declares that the Provin
cials, with their bayonets " repulsed the enemy in three
several attacks." One part of Cleveland's line was charged
once in the flank, and another portion was twice driven
before the bayonet; while Chronicle and Hambright's
Lincoln men were once, at least, forced down the hill. Mc-
Dowell's corps received a bayonet charge, as Thomas Ken-

Newell's and Sharp's statements.
+ Statements of Lieutenant Newell, James Crow, and Henry Dickenson, of Campbell's
regiment.

OF IHE
U^IVEHSJTV Of ILLINOIS

AND ITS HEROES. 279

nedy, one of the Captains, testifies. Sevier's column, save
those intermingled with Campbell's men, was not charged
during the action ; nor was Williams' battalion ; * nor is it
known that Lacey's or Winston's columns suffered from
these bayonet charges.

When the Provincials and Loyalists charged the Ameri-
cans down the mountain, they seem to have reserved their
fire till the termination of their pursuit ; and having dis-
charged their rifles, they retreated with great precision, re-
loading as they retraced their steps \ — as they had learned
very skillfully to do by the example and instructions of Fergu-
son ; but while they were thus deliberately retiring, the sharp-
sighted riflemen below them, taking deadly aim, would pick
them off at every moment. Long experience proves, that
marksmen in a valley have the advantage of those on a
hill, in firing at each other, which is probably owing to the
terrestrial refraction. % The forest-hunters, though apprised
of this fact, often shoot too high when their object is below
them. Be this as it may, the English shot whistled over the
heads of the Americans, rattling among the trees and cut-
ting off twigs, wrhile the bullets of the mountaineers produced
dreadful effect — the British losses having been nearly three
times that of their antagonists. Lieutenant Allaire states
that the North Carolina Loyalists, seeing that they were
surrounded, and numbers being without ammunition, were
the first to give way, which naturally threw the rest of the
Tories into confusion. § This may have been so, and yet
the official report of Campbell and his associates be also
true, that the greater part of the enemy's guns at the sur-
render were still charged.

As Robert Henry, of Hambright's and Chronicle's party,

* So James Sevier and Silas McBee, of those --regiments, respectfully stated to the
author.

-j- Communicated verbally, in July, ,1842, by Samuel Handley, of Pontotoc County,
Miss., as derived from his father, Captain Samuel Handley, Sr., who served in Sevier's regi
ment at King's Mountain.

J Mills' Statistics. 779.

^Allaire's MS. Diary ; and his newspaper narrative, also.

280 KING 'S MO UNTAIN

who had been transfixed by a Tory bayonet, was making
his way at the very close of the engagement to Clarke's
Branch to quench his thirst, he unexpectedly met Colonel
Graham on his large black steed, accompanied by David
Dickey, who, wielding his sword around his head, exclaimed
— "D — m the Tories!"* He had heard the firing while
on his way to his sick wife, and could not resist the impulse
to return, and share in the battle, f Just before the final
surrender of the enemy, when there was much intermingling
of the mountaineers, Colonel Shelby had the hair on
the left side of his head scorched off, which was noticed by
Colonel Sevier, who met him at this moment — so narrowly
did the heroic Shelby escape losing his life by Tory bullets.}!
With their men forced into a huddle near their tents and
wagons, the surviving British officers could not form half a
dozen of them together ; and the demoralized Tories were
being shot down like sheep at the slaughter.

The fall of Ferguson is represented by Lieutenant
Allaire as having occurred " early in the action;" and
Captain Ryerson, another of his corps officers, only states
that DePeyster, after the loss of Ferguson, maintained his
ground as long as it was possible to defend it. Tarleton
states, that when Ferguson was shot, after nearly an hour's
fighting, " his whole corps was thrown into total confusion ;
no effort was made after this event, to resist the enemy's
barbarity, or revenge the fall of their leader." In the
Memoir of General Samuel Graham, a. Captain under
Lord Cornwallis — a work prepared from the General's
manuscripts — it is stated, that after the fall of Ferguson,
and many of his men, " the remainder, after a short resist-
ance, were overpowered, and compelled to surrender." A

* Robert Henry's MS. narrative, appended to the statements of Vance and McDowell.

-j- That night. Colonel Graham's only child, Sarah, was born, who, when she grew to
womanhood, became the wife of Abram Irvine, who was several years Sheriff of Ruther-
ford County. The venerable Dr. O. B. Irvine, of Greenville, S. C, is one of several
children of this marriage.

J Shelby s letter, August 12, and Colonel John Sevier's, August 27, 1812.

AND ITS HEROES. 281

writer in the London Political Magazine, for February,
1781, asserts that when Ferguson fell, Captain DePeyster,
the next in command, '* immediately hoisted the white flag
— that is, his white handkerchief; an officer close by him,
enraged at such timidity, made a stroke at him with his
sabre, and almost cut off his hand ; nevertheless the surren-
der went on."

Allaire and Ryerson, his fellow officers, not only acquit
DePeyster of the charge of timidity, but declare that his
conduct was, in all " respects, proper;" and Captain
Ryerson adds, that he "behaved like a brave good officer.''
Of course, the hand-cutting incident had no foundation.
Ramsay, the South Carolina historian, states that "no
chance of escape being left, and all prospect of successful
resistance being at an end, the second in command sued for
quarter." Gordon, in his History, and Mackenzie, in his
Strictures, adopt this view of the matter : And Ensign
Robert Campbell, of the Virginia regiment observes, that as
soon as Ferguson fell, " Captain DePeyster raised a flag,
and called for quarters ; it was soon taken out of his hand
by one of the officers on horseback, and raised so high that
it could be seen by our line."

But there were other white flags or emblems displayed
bv the enemy, either with or without the sanction of De-
Peyster. A man was mounted on horseback with a white
handkerchief as a token of submission ; but he was quickly
shot down by the half-crazed Bowen, as already related ;
when another was mounted on the same horse, and set
out for the display of the emblem of surrender, who soon
shared the same fate, but a third met with better success —
Major Evan Shelby received it, and, with others, pro-
claimed the surrender. By this time white handkerchiefs
were also displayed in various quarters on guns and ram-
rods. " Our men," says Shelby, " who had been scattered
in the battle, were continually coming up, and continued to
fire, without comprehending, in the heat of the moment,

282 KING ' S MO UNTAIN

what had happened." Many of the young men, it was said
for their apology, knew not the meaning of a white flag
under such circumstances ; while others had become embit-
tered, and were crying out — " Give them Buford's play !"* —
no quarters, as Tarleton had, the preceding May, so savagely
treated Colonel Buford and his party. "When the
British, " says Mills' Statistics of South Carolina, " found
themselves pressed on all sides, they hung out white hand-
kerchiefs upon guns and halberds. Few of the Americans
understood the signal, and the few that did, chose not to
know what it meant ; so that, even after submission, the
slaughter continued, until the Americans were weary of
killing." This is a sad confession, but impartial truth de-
mands that the record be faithful, though, in this case, there
is reason to believe that the latter part of Mills' statement is
somewhat exaggerated.

Among those still engaged in this work of death was
young Joseph Sevier, who had heard that his father, Col-
onel Sevier, had been killed in the action — a false report,
originating, probably, from the fact of the Colonel's brother,
Captain Robert Sevier, having been fatally wounded ; and
the young soldier kept up firing upon the huddled Tories,
until admonished to cease, when he excitedly cried out,
with the tears chasing each other down his cheeks — " The
d — d rascals have killed rny father, and I'll keep loading
and shooting till I kill every son of a b — h of them.'' Col-
onel Sevier now riding up, his son discovered the mistake
under which he had labored, and desisted, f

But the Whig leaders were active in their efforts to put
a stop to the further firing of the patriots. The subdued
Tories were everywhere crying " quarters !" — " quarters !"
" D — m you," exclaimed Shelby, " if you want quarters,
throw down your arms !" J Benjamin Sharp, of Camp-

* Shelby's narrative, 1823 ; General Graham's statement; certificate of John Long, of
Shelby's men.

f Statement of Colonel George W.Sevier.

\ Certificate of John Sharp, of Shelby's regiment, 1823.

AND ITS HEROES. 283

belTs regiment, who witnessed this scene, thus describes it:
" At the close of the action, when the British were loudl}-
calling for quarters, but uncertain whether they would be
granted, I saw the intrepid Shelby rush his horse within
fifteen paces of their lines, and command them to lay down
their arms, and they should* have quarters. Some would
call this an imprudent act ; but it showed the daring bravery
cf the man." *

Andrew Evins, a member of Captain William Edmond-
son's company, of the Virginia regiment, was, with others,
still tiring on the demoralized Tories, when Colonel Camp-
bell came running up, and knocked up the soldier's gun,
exclaiming — "Evins, for God's sake, don't shoot! It is
murder to kill them now, for they have raised the flag!"f
Campbell, as he rushed along, repeated the order—" Cease
firing ! — for God's sake, cease firing ! " J Thus was Colonel
Campbell mercifully engaged in saving the discomfited
Loyalists from further effusion of blood — no officer could
have acted more tender or humane ; and he passed on
around the prisoners, on foot, still seeking to promote their
safety and protection.

Captain DePeyster, who had succeeded Ferguson in
the command, sitting on his grey horse, expostulated with
Colonel Campbell, referring to the firing on his flag — u Col-
onel Campbell, it was d — d unfair," and then repeated it;
but Campbell, probably thinking it no time to bandy words
with the British leader, simply ordered him to dismount ;
and called out, "officers, rank by yourselves; prisoners,
take off your hats, and sit down." § The enemy at this
time had been driven into a group of sixty yards in length,
and less than forty in width. || The mountaineers were
ordered to close up in surrounding the prisoners, first

* American Pioneer, February, 1843, 69.

+ Evin?' statement. 1823.

1 Letter of General George Rutledge, May 27th, 1813.

I James Crow's statement. May 6, 1813.

I General Graham's narrative.

284 KING 'S MO UNTAIN

in one continuous circle, then double guards, and finally
four deep. * Colonel Campbell then proposed to his troops
three huzzas for Liberty, which were given in hearty
acclaim, making the welkin ring, and the hills resound, with
their shouts of victory.!

An occurrence now transpired, that, for a few moments,
changed the whole scene in that quarter ; and threatened,
for a brief period, the most tragic consequences. It is
known, as a British account relates it, that " a small party
of the Loyal militia returning from foraging, unacquainted
with the surrender, happening to fire on the Rebels, the
prisoners were immediately threatened with death, if the
firing should be repeated." J Whether it was the volley
from this party, who probably scampered off; or whether
from some of the Tories in the general huddle, exasperated
perhaps that proper respect was not instantly paid to their
flag, now fired upon, and mortally wounded Colonel Wil-
liams, who was riding towards the British encampment ;
and, wheeling back, said to William Moore, one of Camp-
bell's regiment — " I'm a gone man !" §

Colonel Campbell was close at hand when this un-
happy event transpired ; and doubtless reasoned, that if the
fatal firing proceeded from an outside party, it was the pre-
cursor of Tarleton's expected relief; if from the surrendered
Tories, at least some considerable portion of them were in-
clined to spring a trap on the Whigs, shoot down their leaders,
and make a bold attempt to escape, when the patriots were
measurably off their guard, and least prepared for it ; and
acting on the spur of the moment, he resolved on stern
military tactics to quell the intended mutiny, by instantly

* Captain Christopher Taylor s statement , conversations with John Spelts.

•f Statements of John Craig; MS. narrative of Robert Henry.

J South Carolina Gazette, December 20, 1780; and Scot's Magazine, January, 1781.
The editor of the Gazette evidently derived his statement from Lieutenant Allaire, of Fer-
guson's Rangers, judging from a comparison of the details there given, with a more elabor-
ate narrative in Rivington's, Royal Gazette, New York, February 24, 1781, which General
J. Watts DePeyster attributes, from internal evidence, to that officer, and which Lieutenant
Allaire's MS. Diary fully corroborates.

3 Statement of William Moore.

AND ITS HEROES. 285

ordering the men near him — the men of Williams and
Brandon's command — to fire upon the enemy. The order
was quickly obeyed by the soldiers who had been so
treacherously deprived of their intrepid leader ; " and," said
Lieutenant Joseph Hughes, one of Brandon's party, "we
killed near a hundred of them." But the probabilities are,
that those who fired, and those who suffered from it, were
not very numerous. It was, however, a sad affair ; and in
the confusion of the moment, its origin and its immediate
effects were probably little understood by either party ; and
doubtless Colonel Campbell himself deeply regretted the
order he had given to fire upon an unresisting foe. *

* These particulars may be somewhat erroneous and exaggerated ; but there must be
a basis of truth in them. It is due to the high reputation that Colonel Hughes sustained in
his day, to accord candor ahd good intentions to his statements generally. In his pension
application, in 1833, he briefly states: "Was at King's Mountain-, where General Williams
was mortally wounded, after the British had raised their flag to surrender, by a fire from
some Tories. Colonel Campbell then ordered a fire on the Tories, and we killed near a
hundred of them after the surrender of the British, and could hardly be restrained from
killing the whole of them."

That Colonel Hughes' statements are worthy of respect, a brief reference to some of
the more salient points of his Revolutionary services, and the good character he bore during
the war, and for more than half a century thereafter, are only necessary to be cited. He
was born in what is now Chester County, South Carolina, in 1761, his parents having
retired there temporarily from the present region of Union County, on account of Indian
troubles. He served, in 1776, on Williamson s Cherokee expedition, and subsequently in
Georgia. Governor Rutledge, early in 1780. commissioned him a Lieutenant, and he fought
under Sumter at Rocky Mount and Hanging Rock; and then shared in the heroic action at
Musgrove s Mill. His dare devil character, and adventurous services, in the up-country
region of South Carolina, during the summer and autumn of 1780, have already been related.
In one of these Tory encounters, Hughes had a lock of hair cut from his head, Captain
Samuel Otterson a slight wound on his chin, while a third person received a cut across his
cheek— all from the same shot.

Then we find him taking part, in the memorable engagements at King's Mountain,
Hammond's Store, and Cowpens. Though yet a Lieutenant, he commanded his company
in this latter action. He was not only a man of great personal strength, but of remarkable
fleetness on foot. As his men, with others, broke at the Cowpens, and fled before Tarleton's
cavalry; and though receiving a sabre cut across his right hand, yet with his drawn
sword, he would out-run his men, and passing them, face about, and command them to
stand, striking right and left to enforce obedience to orders; often repeating with a loud
voice : " You d— d cowards, halt and fight— there is more danger in running than in fight-
ing, and if you don't stop and fight, you will all be killed !" But most of them were for
awhile too demoralized to realize the situation, or obey the commands of their officers. As
they would scamper off, Hughes would renewedly pursue, and once more gaining their
front, would repeat his tactics to bring them to their duty. At length the company was
induced to make a stand, on the brow of a slope, some distance from the battle-line, be-
hind a clump of young pines that partially concealed and protected them from Tarleton's
cavalry Others now joined them for self-protection. Their guns were quickly loaded,

286 KING '5 MO UNTAIN

The firing upon the British and Tories was at length
suppressed. Colonel Shelby, fearing that the enemy might
3ret, perhaps, feel constrained, in self-defence, to resume
their arms, and which they could with such facility snatch
up as they lay before them, exclaimed : " Good God ! what
can we do in this confusion ? " " We can order the prison-
ers from their arms " said Captain Sawyers. " Yes," re-
sponded Shelby, " that can be done"; and the prisoners
were accordingly forthwith marched to another place, with
a strong guard placed around them. *

The surviving British leaders were prompt to surrender
their swords to the first American officer that came near
them. Ferguson's sword was picked up on the ground ;
and, according to one account, it passed into Colonel
Cleveland's possession ; but with more probability, accord-
ing to others, it fell into the hands of Colonel Sevier. Cap-
tain DePeyster delivered his sword, as some assert, to
Colonel Campbell ; while others declare it was to Major
Evan Shelby. Captain Ryerson, who was wounded, ten-
dered his sword to Lieutenant Andrew Kincannon, of

and they were themselves again. Morgan galloped up and spoke words of encourage-
ment to them. The next moment the British cavalry were at them ; but the Whigs re-
served their fire till the enemy were so near, that it was terribly effective, emptying many
a British saddle, when the survivors recoiled. Now Colonel Washington gave them a
charge — the battle was restored, when Howard and his Marylanders with the bayonet
swept the field. Such is the account related by Christopher Brandon to Daniel Wallace.
Tarleton acknowledges, that " an unexpected fire from the Americans, who came about as
they were retreating, stopped the British, and threw them into confusion,' ' when a panic
ensued, and then a general flight. It was a high and wo; thy compliment from his old
commander, Colonel Brandon, who declared, that, at the Cowpens, " Hughes saved the
/ate of the day." ■

As a deserved recognition of these meritorious services, he was promoted to a Cap
taincy early in 1781, when he was scarcely twenty years of age ; and led his company with
characteristic valor, at the battle of Eutaw Springs. The Tories had killed his father
during the war, and many a dear friend, and his animosity against the whole race was
alike bitter and unrelenting. In 1825, he removed to Alabama, first to Green County, and
then to Pickens, where he died, in September, 1834, in his seventy-fourth year. For more
than twenty of the closing years of his life, he was an elder in the Presbyterian church ;
and the rough, and almost tiger-like partisan, became as humble and submissive as a lamb.
He rose to the rank of Colonel in the militia. He was tall and commanding in his appearance,
jovial and affable in conversation ; yet his early military training rendered him, to the last,
stern and rigid in discipline. In all that makes up the man, he was a noble specimen of the
Revolutionary hero.

* Ramsey's Tennessee, 239 ; MS. correspondence of Dr. Ramsey.

AND ITS HEROES. 287

Campbell's regiment, who was, at that moment, endeavor-
ing to check the firing on the surrendered Tories ; but not
regarding himself as the proper officer to receive this ten-
der of submission, the Lieutenant, without due reflection,
courteously invited the British Captain to be seated ; who
looking around, and seeing no seat, promptly squatted
himself upon the ground, Kincannon entering into conver-
sation with him. Adjutant Franklin, of Cleveland's regi-
ment, now coming up, received Ryerson's sword, the latter
remarking: "You deserve it, sir!"* Colonel Campbell
was stalking around among the enemy in his shirt sleeves,
and his collar open, and when some of the Americans
pointed him out as their commander, the British, at first,
from his unmilitary plight, seemed to doubt it, but a number
of officers now surrendered their swords to him, until he
had several in his hands, and under his arm.f

It is proper to advert briefly to Ferguson's conduct in
the battle. It was that of a hero. He did all that mortal
man could have done, under the circumstances, to avert the
impending catastrophe. lie was almost ubiquitous — his
voice, his presence, and his whistle everywhere animated
his men, either to renew their bayonet charges, or maintain
a firm stand against the steadily encroaching mountaineers.
But he trusted too much to the bayonet against an enemy as
nimble as the antelope. \ " He had," says Doctor Ferguson,
" two horses killed under him, while he remained untouched
himself; but he afterwards received a number of wounds,
of which, it is said, any one was mortal, and dropping from
his horse, expired, while his foot yet hung in the stirrup." §
This, if we may credit Lee's Memoirs of the War in the

* Judge J. F. Graves' sketch of his grandfather, Jesse Franklin, in the second series of
Caruthers' Incidents in the Old North State, pp. -^03-4; MS. statement of Elijah Callaway;
MS. corre>pondence of Dr. A. N. Kincannon, of Missouri, and John L. Worth, of Mt.
Airy. N. C

f Lieutenant William Russell, James Snodgrass, James Keys, David Campbell, Henry
Dickenson, and David Beattie, of Campbell's regiment, and William King, and George
Rutledge. of Shelby's men.

I Johnson's Greene, i. 306.

\ Memoir 0/ Colonel Ferguson, 33.

288 KING ' S MO UNTAIN

South, and Burk's History of Virginia^ happened after
fifty minutes' fighting ; or some ten or fifteen minutes before
the final close of the action ; and about three minutes before
the flag was displayed for surrender, according to Thomas
Maxwell, one of Shelby's men.

As long as Ferguson lived, his unyielding spirit scorned
to surrender. He persevered until he received his mortal
wounds. His fall very naturally disheartened his followers.
For some time before that fatal event, there was really nothing
to encourage them, save the faintest hope which they vainly
cherished of momentary relief from Tarleton. Animated
by the brave example of their heroic leader, and still con-
fiding in his fruitful military resources, they had maintained
the unequal contest under all disadvantages. Losing his
inspiration, they lost all — with him perished the last hope
of success. *

Colonel Ferguson not only made a sad mistake in delay-
ing a single moment at King's mountain with a view to a
passage at arms with his pursuers ; but he committed, if pos-
sible, a still more grievous error in the supposed strength of
his position. ;< His encampment," says the South Carolina
historian, Ramsay, kk on the top of the mountain was not
well chosen, as it gave the Americans an opportunity of
covering themselves in their approaches. Had he pursued
his march on charging and driving the first party of the
militia which gave way, he might have got off with the
most of his men ; but his unconquerable spirit disdained
either to flee or to surrender." The historian, Gordon, takes
the same view : "Major Ferguson wras overseen in making
his stand on the mountain, which, being much covered with
woods, gave the militia, who were all riflemen, the oppor-
tunity of approaching near, with greater safety to themselves
than if they had been upon plain, open ground. The Major,
however, might have made good his retreat, if not with the
whole, at least with a great part of his men, had he pursued

* Stedman's American War, ii, 223.

AND ITS HEROES. 289

his march immediately upon his charging and driving
the first detachment ; for though the militia acted with spirit
for undisciplined troops, it was with difficulty that they could
he prevailed upon to renew their attack, after being charged
with the bayonet. They kept aloof, and continued popping ;
then gathered round, and crept nearer, till, at length, they
leveled the Major with one of their shots."

General Simon Bernard, one of the most distinguished
engineers, and aids-de-camp of the great Napoleon, and sub-
sequently in the United States engineer service, on examin-
ing the battle-ground of King's Mountain, said: "The
Americans, by their victory in that engagement, erected a
monument to perpetuate the brave men who had fallen
there ; and the shape of the hill itself would be an eternal
monument of the military genius and skill of Colonel Fer-
guson, in selecting a position so well adapted for defence ;
and that no other plan of assault but that pursued by the
mountain-men, could have succeeded against him." *

One of our best historical critics, General DePeyster,
observes: "Ferguson set an inordinate value on the posi-
tion which he had selected, which, however strong against
a regular attack, was not defensible against the attacks
which were about to be directed upon it. How grievously
he erred as to the intrinsic availability of King's Mountain
as a military position, was evinced by his remark that ' all
the Rebels from h — 1 could not drive him from it.' It is true,
he was not driven from it; but its bald, rockv summit
merely served, like the sacrificial stone of the Aztecs, for
the immolation of the victims." \

The historian, Lossing, who visited the battle-field thirty
odd years ago, justly observes: "It was a strange place
for an encampment or a battle, and to one acquainted with
the region, it is difficult to understand why Ferguson and
his band were there at all." J

":: Ramsey's History of Tennessee, 239.
t Historical Magazine. March, 1869. 194.
\ Pictorial Field Book 0/ the Revolution, ii, 423.
19

290 KING 'S MO UNTA1N

It is useless to speculate on what might have changed
the fate of the day ; yet a few suggestions may not be out of
place in this connection. Trivial circumstances, on critical
occasions, not unfrequently produce the most momentous
consequences. Had Tarleton, for instance, suddenly made
his appearance before or during the battle — had the detach-
ment at Gibbs' plantation, near the Cowpens, or Moore's
foraging party, vigorously attacked the mountaineers in the
rear, during the progress of the engagement, and especially
during the confusion consequent upon the repulses of Camp-
bell's and Shelby's columns ; or had Ferguson chosen
suitable ground on the plains, and in the woods, where his
men could have availed themselves of shelter for their pro-
tection, and fought on an equality with their antagonists,
the result might have been very different, and Ferguson
have been the hero of the hour — and, it may be, the fate of
American Independence sealed. But in God's good
Providence, such a fatal blow was not in store for the
suffering patriots.

Most of the accounts represent that the British Colonel
was killed out-right. He is said to have received six or
eight bullet holes in his body — one penetrating his thigh,
another re-shattering his right arm just above the elbow ;
and yet he continued to raise his sword in his left hand,* till
a rifle ball piercing his head, put an end to further fighting
or consciousness. \ In falling from his horse, or while

*MS. statement of Elijah Callaway, in 1842.

■j- Ramsay, Gordon, Smith, in his American War, Moultrie, Judge James, Mills and
Foote are among the American writers, who unite in declaring that Ferguson "received a
mortal wound." Stedman, Mackenzie, and Lamb, British writers, all of whom were con-
nected with the British service at the time, make the same assertion. The Columbian
Magazine, 1792, p. 323, states also that he received a mortal wound. Dr. John Whelchel.
of Williams' men, asserts in his pension statement, that Ferguson " fell mortally wounded ; •'
and William White, of Lacey's regiment, in his pension application, says " he was mortally
wounded, and died a short time afterwards."

The place where Ferguson fell is indicated on the diagram of the battle-field, near the
brow of the south eastern portion of the mountain, opposite to McDowell's column, but
probably where Sevier's men had advanced at the close of the conflict, when the enemy
had been forced to that quarter. That locality was pointed out, fully fifty years ago, by
William Logan, a survivor of the battle, to his grandson, the present Col. J. R. Logan, and
in which, Arthur Patterson, a cotemporary of the Revolution, and familiar with King's
Mountain all his life, coincided.

AND ITS HEROES. 291

being conveyed to the rear, a silver whistle dropped from
his vest pocket, which was picked up by one of his soldiers,
Elias Powell, who preserved it many years;* and Powell,
and three others, as John Spelts relates, were seen, at the
close of the surrender, bearing off, in a blanket, their fallen
chief to a spring near the mountain's brow, on the southern
side of the elevation ; and there gently bolstered him up
with rocks and blankets. One of the Tories, who had just
grounded his gun, taking in the situation, and true to his
plundering instincts, ran up, and was in the act of thrusting
his hand into the dying man's pockets, when the unfeeling
intruder was repelled by one of the attendants, who, rudely
pushing him away, exclaimed with a sarcastic oath — "Are
you going to rob the dead ? " \ A little after, Colonel Shelby
rode up, and thinking perhaps that Ferguson might yet be
sensible of what was said to him — though he evidently was
not — exclaimed : " Colonel, the fatal blow is struck — we've
Burgoyned you?"* The life of this restless British leader
soon ebbed away. Some of the more thoughtless of the
Whig soldiery, it is said, committed an act which we would
fain be excused from the pain of recording. " The moun-
taineers, it is reported, used every insult and indignity, after
the action, towards the dead body of Major Ferguson." §

So curious were the Whigs to see the fallen British
chief, that many repaired to the spot to view his body as it
lay in its gore and glory. Lieutenant Samuel Johnson, of
Cleveland's regiment, who had been severely disabled in
the action, desired to be carried there, that he, too, might

* Powell was one of the young men induced to enlist under Ferguson's banner, and
became much attached to his commander. He was taken prisoner to Hillsboro, where
he was paroled, and returned to his widowed mother, who lived at what is known as
Powellton, two miles east of Lenoii, Caldwell County, on the western frontier of North
Carolina. There he lived until his death, May 5th. 1832. The silver whistle then went to
one of his decendants. who removed West, and having since died, the relic has been lost
sight of. John Spelts related, that Ferguson had a yet larger silver whistle, a foot in length,
which fell into the hands of Colonel Shelby.

f Statement of Spelts.

t Related by Spelts and Thomas H. Shelby, a son of the Colonel.

\ Tarleton's Campaigns, 165.

292 KING 'S MO UNTAIN

look upon the dying or lifeless leader of the enemy whom he
had so valiantly fought ; when Colonel Cleveland, and two
of the soldiers, bore the wounded Lieutenant to the place
of pilgrimage ; * and even the transfixed Robert Henry, amid
his pains and sufferings, could not repress his curiosity to
take a look at Ferguson. It was probably where he was
conveyed, and breathed his last, that he was buried — on
the south-eastern declivity of the mountain, where his mortal
remains, wrapped, not in a military cloak, or hero's coffin,
but in a raw beef's hide, \ found a peaceful sepulture.

The tradition in that region has been rife for more than
fifty years, that Ferguson had two mistresses with him, per-
haps nominally cooks — both fine looking young women.
One of them, known as Virginia Sal, a red haired lady, it is
related, was the first to fall in the battle, and was buried in
the same grave with Ferguson, as some assert ; or, as others
have it, beside the British and Tory slain ; while the other,
Virginia Paul, survived the action ; and after it was over,
was seen to ride around the camp as unconcerned as though
nothing of unusual moment had happened. She was con-
veyed with the prisoners at least as far as Burke Court
House, now Morganton, North Carolina, and subsequently
sent to Lord Cornwallis' army. \

That almost envenomed hate which the mountaineers
cherished towards Ferguson and his Tory followers, nerved
them to marvellous endurance while engaged in the battle.
They had eaten little or nothing since they left the Cowpens
some eighteen hours before — much of the time in the rain,
protecting their rifles and ammunition by divesting them-
selves of their blankets or portions of their clothing ; and they
had been, since leaving Green river, for over forty hours,
without rest or repose. "I had no shoes," said Thomas
Young, " and of course fought in the battle barefoot, and,

* Statement of Lewis Johnson, a son of the Lieutenant.
IMS. letter of Dr. W.J. T. Miller, July 30, 1880.

1 MSS. of Dr. John H. Logan; MS. letters of James J. Hampton, Dr. C L. Hunter,
Cojenel J. R. Logan, and Dr. W. J. T. Miller.

AND ITS HEROES. 293

when it was over, my feet were much lacerated and bleed-
ing." * Others, too, must have suffered from the flinty rocks
over which they hurriedly passed and re-passed during the
engagement. As an instance of the all-absorbing effect of
the excitements surrounding them, when the next morning
the mountaineers were directed to discharge their guns, " I
fired my large old musket," said Young, " charged in time
of the battle with two musket balls, as I had done every time
during the engagement ; and the recoil, in this case, was
dreadful, but I had not noticed it in the action."!

Taking it for granted that the Loyalist force under
Ferguson at King's Mountain was eight hundred, it may
be interesting to state what little is known of the respective
numbers from the two Carolinas. In Lieutenant Allaire's
newspaper narrative, he refers to the North Carolina regi-
ment, commanded by Colonel Ambrose Mills, as number-
ing " about three hundred men." A Loyalist writer in the
London Political Magazine, for April, 1783, who appar-
ently once resided in the western part of North Carolina,
asserts that the Loyalists of the Salisbury district — which
embraced all the western portion of the North Province —
who were with Ferguson, numbered four hundred and
eighty. Deducting the absent foraging party under Colonel
Moore, who was a North Carolinian, and whose detachment
may be presumed to have been made up of men from that
Province, we shall have about the number mentioned by
Allaire remaining. This would suggest that about three
hundred and twenty was the strength of the South Carolina
Loyalists.

As the North Carolina Tories were the first to give way,
according to Allaire, and precipitate the defeat that followed,
it only goes to prove that they were the hardest pressed by
Campbell and Shelby, which is quite probable ; or, that the
South Carolinians had been longest drilled for the service,

*Rev. James H. Saye's MS. conversations with Thomas Young, of Union County,
South Carolina, March 27, 1843.
f Saye's MSS.

294 KING ' S MO UN TAIN

and were consequently best prepared to maintain their
ground. It is not a little singular, that so few of the promi-
nent Loyalist leaders, of the Ninety Six district, were pre-
sent with Ferguson — only Colonel Vesey Husband, of
wrhom we have no knowledge, and who, we suppose, was
in some way associated with the South Carolina Tories, to-
gether with Majors Lee and Plummer. Where were the
other Loyalist leaders of that region — Colonels Cunningham,
Kirkland, and Clary, Lieutenant-Colonels Philips and
Turner, and Majors Gibbs, Hill, and Hamilton ? Some
were doubtless with the party whom the Whigs had passed
at Major Gibbs' plantation, near the Cowpens, or possibly
with Colonel Moore's detachment ; others were scattered
here and there on furlough ; but they were not at King's
Mountain, when sorely needed, with all the strength they
could have brought to the indefatigable Ferguson. That
freebooter, Fanning, with his Tory foragers, who were
beating about the country, fell in with Ferguson five days
before his defeat ; * but preferring their independent bush-
whacking service, they escaped the King's Mountain
disaster.

Paine, in his American Crisis, berated the Loyalists as
wanting in manhood and bravery, declaring: " I should
not be afraid to go with an hundred Whigs against a thous-
and Tories. Every Tory is a coward, for a servile, slavish,
self-interested fear is the foundation of Toryism ; and a
man under such influence, though he may be cruel, can
never be brave." Yet, it must be confessed, that the
Loyalists evinced no little pluck and bravery at King's
Mountain. But they had been specially fitted for the
service, and under the eye of a superior drill-master, as few
Americans had been in either army ; and it had been justly
said, that, on this occasion, they fought with halters around
their necks ; and they, too, were expert riflemen.

The British Southern leaders were not only surprised

* Farming's Narrative, 13.

AND ITS HEROES. 295

and amazed beyond measure, but were filled with alarm at
the unexpected appearance of so formidable a force —
largely exaggerated as it was — from border settlements
of which they had not so much as heard of their existence.
Lord Rawdon, in his letter of October twenty-fourth, 1780,
referring to Ferguson's miscarriage, and the men who
confronted and defeated him, says: "A numerous army
now appeared on the frontier, drawn from Nolachucky,
and other settlements beyond the mountains, whose very
names had been unknown to us ; " and Mackenzie, one
of Tarleton's officers, probably mistaking Nolachucky, in
what is now East Tennessee, for Kentucky, states in his
Strictures : " The wild and fierce inhabitants of Kentucky,
and other settlements westward of the Alleghany mount-
ains, under Colonels Campbell and Boone," then naming
the other leaders, " assembled suddenly and silently ; " and
adding, that these mountaineers " advanced with the inten-
tion to seize upon a quantity of Indian presents, which they
understood were but slightly guarded at Augusta, and which
were, about that time, to have been distributed among a
body of Creek and Cherokee Indians assembled at that
place/'

This erroneous statement of Mackenzie's has been
adopted by Stedman in his History of the American War,
and by Dr. Ferguson, in his Memoir of Colonel Ferguson.
So critical a student of American histor}- as Gen. J. W.
DePeyster, has fallen into the error, that the "dark and
bloody ground" of Kentucky contributed her quota of
fighting men for King's Mountain battle.* But none of the
King's Mountain men came from that region, though many
of them subsequently became permanent settlers there ; and
so far from Colonel Boone having participated in the cam-
paign, he was hundreds of miles away, in his beloved
Kentucky. The day before King's Mountain battle, while
he and his brother, Edward Boone, were out buffalo hunting,

* Historical Magazine, March, 1869. p. 190.

296 KING }S MO UN TAIN

the latter was shot dead by a party of Indians, concealed in
a cane-brake, some fifteen or twenty miles from Boonesboro,
and the former made good his escape to that settlement ;
and, the day of the contest on King's Mountain, he was with
a party in pursuit of the Indians who had killed his brother.
Nor is it in any sense true, that the plunder of Indian goods
at Augusta was their object — all the facts go to disprove any
such intention. This, however, seems to have been one of
the motives held out by Colonel Clarke to his men in his
attack on Augusta, as stated by Lee in his Memoirs.

There is no great discrepancy among the different
authorities as to the length of time occupied by the engage-
ment— if we discard, as we must, Mills' inordinate mistake,
that "the battle began between eight and nine o'clock in
the morning, and lasted till night." A writer in the
Virginia Argus, of December eleventh, 1805, evidently a
survivor of Campbell's men, says, " in forty-two minutes we
made them beg for quarters," referring, doubtless, to the
time of Ferguson's fall, and the running up of the white
flag. General Davidson, in his letter to General Sumner,
states, three days after the action, on the authority of
Major Tate, of Lacey's corps, who was in the engage-
ment, that it lasted " forty-seven minutes." Lee, in his
History of the Southern Campaigns, who was subsequently
associated in service with Campbell, declares that after
"the battle had ra^ed for fiftv minutes," Ferguson was
shot, when the fire of the enemy slackened, and their sur-
render followed. Burk, in his History of Virginia, makes
the same statement. This fixes the time, as nearly as we
can ascertain it, when Ferguson fell. There would seem
to have been but little resistance on the part of the enemy
after the loss of their commander ; it could have been pro-
longed a few minutes onlv at most. Both Tarleton and
Stedman, British authorities, state that the action lasted
" near an hour."

In Colonel Shelby's letter to his father, written October
twelfth, 1780, he says: " the battle continued warm for an

AND ITS HEROES. 297

hour ; " and he wrote the same clay to Colonel Arthur
Campbell, that " the firing was kept up with fury, on both
sides, for near an hour." But Campbell, Shelby, and
Cleveland, in their official account, assert that " a flag was
hoisted by Captain DePeyster, their commanding officer —
Major Ferguson having been killed a little while before ; "
that "the engagement lasted an hour and five minutes.1' The
British Captain Ryerson who shared in the contest, states in
his account in Rivingston's New York Royal Gazette, of
March twenty-first, 1781 , that "the action lasted an hour and
five minutes, very hot indeed ; " and Lieutenant Allaire, an-
other British contestant, says, in his newspaper narrative,
that " the action was severe for upwards of an hour ; " and,
in his MS. Diary, he is more explicit, stating that it lasted " an
hour and five minutes." The probabilities are that Doctor
Johnson, who timed by his watch the last desperate attack
of Campbell's and Shelby's corps, also noted the duration
of the battle, from its commencement to the final suppression
of the firing on the Tories ; and that Campbell and his
associates derived from him their knowledge of the length
of the engagement, and which may be regarded as correct.
The exact strength and losses of the British at King's
Mountain can only be approximately determined. Fer-
guson's Rangers may be set down at one hundred — though
they may have somewhat exceeded that figure. The
general estimate is, in round numbers, one thousand militia
or Loyalists, which would make a total of eleven hundred ;
or, perhaps eleven hundred and twenty-five, as the American
official report has it, founded on the provision returns of that
day. In General Lenoir's account it is stated, that "not
a single man of them escaped that was in camp at the
commencement of the battle." This is probably true, and
goes to show that the party of foragers who returned at the
close of the battle and fired on the Americans, mortally
wounding Colonel Williams, had left previously without
coming under this category. It is prettv evident that
a detachment left camp that morning — doubtless on a for-

298 KING 'S MO UNTAIN

aging expedition ; and this returning party were probably
a portion of the number. Gordon, in his American War,
usually good authority, says four hundred and forty escaped ;
and Haywood's Tennessee gives the same statement, evi-
dently copied from Gordon ; while Mills' Statistics of South
Carolina gives the number as three hundred. Judge
Johnson, in his Life of General Greene, says two hundred
escaped ; and this accords with the statement of Alexander
Greer, one of Sevier's men, who adds that they were under
Colonel Moore,* perhaps the Tory commander at Ram-

* Whether Colonel John or Patrick Moore is the one referred to, is not certain — prob-
ably the former, as Colonel Ferguson seemed not to have formed a good opinion of the
conduct of Patrick Moore in failing to defend Thicketty Fort the preceding July. Moses
Moore, the father of Colonel John Moore, was a native of Carlisle, England, whence he
migrated to Virginia in 1745, marrying a Miss Winston, near Jamestown, in that Province ;
and in 1753, settling in what is now Gaston County, North Carolina, eight miles west of
Lincolnton. Here John Moore was born; and being a frontier country, when old enough
he was sent to Granvilie County, in that Province, for his education. When the Revolution
broke out, he became a zealous Loyalist ; and led a party of Tories from Tryon County, in
February, 1779, to Georgia, and uniting with Colonel Boyd on the way, they were defeated
by Colonel Pickens at Kettle Creek. Boyd was mortally wounded, and Moore escaped to
the British army in that quarter ; and is said to have participated in the defence of Savan-
nah. In December following, he was in the service near Moscley*s Ferry, on the Ogeechee.
He subsequently returned to North Carolina, a Lieutenant-Colonel in Hamilton's
corps of Loyalists, and prematurely embodied a Tory force, near Camp Branch, about half
a mile west of his father's residence ; thence marched about six miles north to Tory
Branch, and thence to Ramsour's Mill, on the South Fork, where he was disastrously
defeated. June 20th, 1780, escaping with thirty others to Camden His regiment, the
Royal North Carolinians, participated in Gates' defeat, losing three killed and fourteen
wounded— among the latter, Colonel Hamilton. It is doubtful if Moore participated in the
action, as he was about that time under suspension, threatened with a court martial for
disobedience of orders in raising the Loyalists at Ramsour's before the time appointed by
Lord Cornwallis; but it was at length deemed impolitic to bring him to trial. Escaping
from King's Mountain, we next find him with Captain Waters, and a body of Tories,
defeated by Colonel Washington at Hammond's Store, South Carolina, December 28th,
1780 Though a family tradition coming down from a sister to her grandson, John H.
Roberts, of Gaston County, represents that Moore went to Carlisle. England, and was lost
track of: yet the better opinion is founded on a statement by a North Carolina Loyalist,
published in the Political Maraziv. London, April. 1783. that he was taken prisoner by
Colonel Wade Hampton, near the Wateree, and hanged. He left no family.

A few words about Colonel Patrick Moore may not be inappropriate in this connection.
He was of Irish descent, and a native of Virginia. He early settled on Thicketty creek in
the north-western part of South Carolina, where he commanded Fort Anderson or Thicketty
Fort, which he surrendered, without firing a gun to Colonel Shelby and associates. He
was subsequently captured by a party of Americans, according to the tradition in his
family, near Ninetv Six. and was supposed to have been killed by his captors, as his remains
were afterwards found, and recognized hv his great height — six feet and seven inches. His
death probably occurred in 1781. He left a widow, who survived many years, a son and
three daughters; and his decendants in South Carolina and Georgia are very worthy
people.

AND ITS HEROES. 299

sour's Mill. Joseph Kerr, one of Williams' men, after
enumerating the killed and prisoners of the enemy, adds —
"the balance escaped." General Alexander Smythe, who
lived on the Holston, said in a speech in Congress, in 1829,
" only twenty-one escaped " — referring, perhaps, to that
party of foragers who mortally wounded Colonel Williams.
Andrews, in his History of the War, says "very few
escaped ;" and Tarleton mentions about picking up some
of the fugitives.

We may conclude that Moore's foraging detachment
numbered about two hundred : which would have left about
nine hundred altogether under Ferguson with whom to
fight the battle. The British Lieutenant Allaire says, the
Loyalists consisted of eight hundred, and Ferguson's corps
of one hundred, * which tallies pretty well with Tarleton's
account in his Southern Campaigns, of about one thousand
Loyal militia, supposing that two hundred of them were on
detached service at the time of the battle ; and it agrees
also with Lord Rawdon's statement, made towards the close
of October, that Ferguson had "about eight hundred
militia" in the engagement: — to this, of course, should be
added his one hundred Provincial Rangers. Allaire, and
other British writers, assuming as true that the exaggerated
account of the entire Whig strength, including those in the
rear, was well-nigh three thousand, assign as a reason of
their overwhelming defeat, the great superiority of their
antagonists — three to one, as they assert, against them. In
point of fact, the numbers of the opposing forces were about
equal ; and it was their persistency, their pluck, and excel-
ling in the use of the rifle, that gave the mountaineers the
victory.

Both in Allaire's New York Gazette and MS. Diary

* Allaire's account in the New York Royal Gazette, February 24, 1781 : and in his MS.
Diary, kindly communicated by his grandson, J. DeLancey Robinson, of New Brunswick.
Stedman gives Ferguson's as nine hundred and sixty; Mrs. Warren, in her History of the
Revolution, eight hundred and fifty. The British historian. Andrews, in his History 0/ the
War. still further diminishes the number — killed and wounded upwards of three hundred,
and four hundred prisoners.

300 KING 'S MO UNTAIN

accounts, he states that the British lost on the field and
in prisoners, as follows : Of the Provincial corps, Colonel
Ferguson, Lieutenant McGinnis and eighteen privates,
total, twenty killed ; Captain Ryerson and thirty-two Ser-
geants and privates, total, thirty-three wounded — making the
killed and wounded together, fifty-three ; two Captains,
four Lieutenants, three Ensigns, one Surgeon, and fifty-four
Sergeants and privates, including the wounded, making a
total of sixty-four prisoners — showing, according to this
account, only thirty-one of Ferguson's corps who escaped
being killed or wounded. This, however, is a manifest
error, for the fifty-three killed and wounded, and thirty-one
uninjured men would add up only eighty-four, whereas,
Lieutenant Allaire concedes that there were, at the com-
mencement of the battle, one hundred of Ferguson's corps.
In this estimate of prisoners, he did not probably include
the survivors of Lieutenant Taylor's twenty dragoons, and
ten wagoners, taken from the Rangers — more than enough
to make up the full complement assigned to the Provin-
cials by that officer. He also states, that the Loyalists
lost "in officers and privates, one hundred killed, ninety
wounded, and about six hundred prisoners." Reckoning
the prisoners at six hundred and ten, and the killed and
wounded as Allaire reports them, would make up the full
amount of the supposable Tory force — eight hundred.

It is stated in the official report of Campbell and his
associates, that of Ferguson's corps nineteen were killed,
and thirty-five wounded — exceeding Allaire's account by
one only ; but making of the officers and privates sixty-
eight prisoners, which would seem to have included only a
part of the wounded ; that the Tories had two hundred and
six killed, one hundred and twenty-eight wounded, and
forty-eight officers and six hundred privates made prisoners
— thus accounting for a total of Provincials and Loyalists
of eleven hundred and three.

Only five days after the battle, Colonel Shelby, in a

AND ITS HEROES. 301

letter to his father, stated the loss of Ferguson's corps at
thirty killed, twenty-eight wounded, and fifty-seven prison-
ers ; that the Tories had one hundred and twenty-seven
killed, one hundred and twenty-five wounded, and six
hundred and forty-nine prisoners ; or both classed together,
one hundred and fifty-seven killed, one hundred and fifty-
three wounded, and seven hundred and six prisoners — total,
one thousand and sixteen. Here is a difference of the
killed of the Tories alone, of seventy-nine, between Shelby's
statement to his father, and the official account, which he is
supposed to have drawn up, and signed a few days later, in
conjunction with Campbell and Cleveland. This discrep-
ancy is unaccountable, except on the supposition that the
official statement was designed, as Colonel Shelby alleges
in his narrative of 1823, to "give tone to public report,"
and confessing, withal, that it was "inaccurate and
indefinite." The probabilities are that the figures of the
patriots, as to the extent of the losses of the enemy, were
considerably over-estimated for public effect ; and that the
prisoners were somewhat " upward of six hundred." as
stated in General Greene's manuscripts,* and which Allaire
practically confirms by stating that they were " about six
hundred."

" Exaggeration of successful operations," wrote Colonel
Lee to General Greene, " was characteristic of the times ; " f
and this was, perhaps, excusable in this instance, since a
total defeat of the enemy, like that of Ferguson's at King's
Mountain, was a circumstance of rare occurrence, and the
Whigs probably thought it was well to make the most of it
to revive the drooping spirits of the people. Love of
country predominated over any mere questions of casuistry ;
and thus Shelby and his associates were not over-nice about
the matter of the enemy's numbers, so that they were only
represented sufficiently large to make a decided impression

* Greene's Life of General Greene, iii, 78.
f Greene's Greene, iii, 222.

302 KING '5 MO UN TAIN

on the minds of all classes, encouraging the friends of free
dom, and equally depressing their enemies.

Of the killed and wounded of the Americans, it is less
difficult to get at the facts ; or at least they are not involved
in such contradictory statements as those relating to the
British losses. Colonel Shelby, in his letter to his father,
October twelfth, 1780, mentions six officers and twenty three
privates killed, and fifty-four wounded ; but adds, that he
believes, with more accurate returns, the killed will prove
to be thirty-five, and the wounded between fifty and sixty.
Colonel Campbell, in his letter of October twentieth, places
the number at about thirty killed, and sixty wounded.
In the official report, made out apparently somewhat later,
and hence more reliable, the killed are stated at twenty-
eight, and the wounded at sixty-two.

In the command of Williams, Brandon, Steen and Ham-
mond, we have no record of any loss save that of their
gallant leader, and the person, whose name is unknown,
who had a presentiment of his death ; and William Giles,
as already related, slightly wounded. Among the South
Carolinians under Lacey and Hawthorn, no killed are
reported, save, perhaps, David Duff and William Watson,
who probably belonged to this corps, and but one wounded,
Robert Miller, of Chester County, who was badly disabled
in his thigh. In both of these commands there were prob-
ably other losses. Of the Rutherford men under Colonel
Hampton, John Smart* and Preston Goforth were killed,
and Major James Porter and William Robertson wounded ;
but of McDowell's Burke County men, we have no know-
ledge of any deaths or disabilities.

The Lincoln County men, considering their small num-
ber, suffered considerably in the engagement — Major
Chronicle, Captain Mattocks, William Rabb, John Boyd,
and Arthur Patterson, killed, and Moses Henry mortally

* Smart was killed by a Tory named Hughes. In after years, John Smart Jr. hearing
of Hughes in West Tennessee, started on a mission to seek the Tory's life, but never
returned. — W. L. Twitty.

AND ITS HEROES. 303

wounded ; Lieutenant-Colonel Hambright, Captain Espey,
Robert Henry, William Gilmer, John Chittim, * and
William Bradley, wounded. There must have been other
losses ; for of Captain Samuel Martin's company of about
twenty men, he relates in his pension statement, that four
were killed, and two mortally wounded.

Of Sevier's regiment, William Steele, John Brown,
and Michael Mahoney, are known to have lost their lives in
the contest ; while Captain Sevier was mortally, and one
Gilleland and Patrick Murphy severely wounded. Near
the close of the action, Captain Sevier, while stooping to
pick up his ramrod, received a buck-shot wound near his
kidney ; after the action, the British Surgeon, Doctor
Johnson, endeavored to extract the shot, but failed in the
effort; dressed his wound, saying if he would remain
quiet awhile, the shot could be extracted, and he would
probably recover ; but if he attempted to return home at
once, his kidneys would inflame, and about the ninth day
he would expire. Fearing to be left behind, lest the Tories
might wreak their vengeance on him, he started on horse-
back for his Nolachucky home, accompanied by his
nephew, James Sevier. On the ninth day, when at Bright's
Place on the Yellow Mountain, preparing their frugal meal,
he was suddenly taken worse, and died within an hour, and
his remains, wrapped in his blanket, were interred beneath
a lofty mountain oak.

After the battle, among the stores captured from the
enemy was a keg of rum, some of which was conveyed to
the wounded Pat Murphy, with which to bathe his wound.
He had been shot across the windpipe in front, cutting it
considerably. Pat held the cup while a companion gave
the wound a faithful bathing ; this done, he swallowed the
remainder, remarking with much sangfroid, "a little in
was as good as out." \

* Chittim was placed on the invalid roll of pensioners in 1815, drawing seventy-two
dollars a year, till his death, December 24, 1818.

•f Statement of the late Major John Sevier, a son of Colonel Sevier.

304 KING ' S MO UNTAIN

Colonel Shelby's regiment no doubt suffered from losses
in the action ; but the particulars are wanting, save that
Captain Shelby, William Cox, and John Fagon were
wounded. As Shelby's men encountered hard fighting, and
were repeatedly charged down the mountain, they must
necessarily have lost some of their number, and had more
wounded than the three whose names are mentioned.

Of the Wilkes and Surry men, under Cleveland and
Winston, we have only the names of two men killed —
Thomas Bicknell, and Daniel Siske, of Wilkes County ;
Major Lewis, Captains Lewis, Smith, and Lenoir, Lieu-
tenants Johnson and J. M. Smith, Charles Gordon, and
John Childers wounded — the latter badly. Where so many
officers were disabled, there must have been several others
of this gallant regiment killed and wounded.

Colonel Campbell's Virginians, who fought so nobly and
persistently throughout the action, met with severer losses
than any other regiment engaged in this hard day's contest.
Of the killed were Captain William Edmondson, Lieutenants
Reece Bowen, William Blackburn, and Robert Edmondson,
Sr., Ensigns Andrew Edmondson, John Beattie, James
Corry, Nathaniel Dry den, Nathaniel Gist, James Philips,
and Humberson Lyon, and private Henry Henigar.
Lieutenant Thomas McCulloch, and Ensign James Laird,
who were mortally wounded, died a few days thereafter.
Captain James Dysart, Lieutenants Samuel Newell, Robert
Edmondson, Jr., and eighteen privates wounded,* of whom
were Fredrick Fisher, John Skeggs Benoni Banning,
Charles Kilgore, William Bullen, Leonard Hyce, Israel
Hayter, and William Moore, who recovered. The names
of the other ten disabled Virginians have not been preserved.

So badly wounded was William Moore, that his leg had
to be amputated on the field. He was necessarily left at

♦Samuel Newell's letter to General Francis Preston, states that Campbells regiment
had thirty-five killed and wounded. As fourteen were killed including two officers who
shortly after died of their wounds, it would leave twenty-one wounded, three of whom
were officers.

AND ITS HEROES. 305

some good Samaritan's ; but when his associates returned
to their distant Holston homes, and told the story of their
victory, and its cost in life and suffering, his devoted wife,
on learning her husband's terrible misfortune, though in the
month of November, mounted her horse and rode all the
long and dreary journey to the neighborhood of King's
Mountain — such was the intrepidity of the frontier women,
as well as the men, of those trying times ; and having nursed
him until sufficiently recovered, she conveyed him home, and
he lived to a good old age, * dying in 1826, after having
received from the Government an invalid pension for thirty-
seven years.

It is remarkable, that thirteen officers to only a single
private of Campbell's men, were killed or mortally wounded
during the battle — nearly one-half of the fatalities of the
whole Whig force engaged in the contest. This disparity of
losses between the leaders and privates is a striking proof
how fearlessly the officers exposed themselves in rallying
the regiment when broken, and leading on their men by
their valor and heroic examples to victory. One-third of
the wounded were of Campbell's regiment. Another
remarkable fact is, that of eight Edmondsons of the
Virginia troops, engaged that day, three were killed, and
one was wounded — all prominent and efficient officers of
that corps ; the survivors having been William Edmondson,
the major of the regiment, and privates John, Samuel, and
William Edmondson.

Thus the names of those who fell and those who were
disabled, of the several Whig regiments, so far as we have
been able to collect them, number twenty-six killed, and
a nameless one of Hammond's men, who fell, who had a
premonition of his fate ; and thirty-six wounded. There
must have been several others killed, beside those whose
names are given in the several lists, and some twenty-six

* MS. Statements of the late Governor David Campbell, and Wm. G. G. Lowry, Clerk
of the Court of Washington County, Virginia — the latter a great grandson of this patriotic
couple.

306 KING 'S MO UNTAIN

additional ones wounded. It does not appear that there was
a single Surgeon among the Americans, and Doctor Johnson
only, of three Surgeons of Ferguson's men, survived, who
seems to have generously attended the wounded of the
Whigs, as well as those of his own corps. But the frontier
people were much accustomed, from necessity, with splints,
bandages, and slippery elm poultices, to treating gun-shot
wounds and other disabilities.

Not very long after the close of the action, Captain John
Weir, of that part of Lincoln now comprising Gaston
County, arrived with his company, having heard of the
advance of the mountaineers ; and may have heard, in the
distance, the reports of the eighteen hundred rifles and
muskets of the Whigs and Tories that reverberated from
King's Mountain over the surrounding country.* Captain
Robert Shannon, a brave Irishman, also of Lincoln County,
hastened with his company likewise to the field of battle.
And not a few of the scattered settlers of that region, men
and women, repaired to the battle-ground to learn the news,
and render whatever aid they could under the circum-
stances. Among them was Mrs. Ellen McDowell, and her
daughter Jane, having heard the firing from their house,
went to the scene of strife, where they remained several
days nursing and attending to the wounded soldiers.

After the battle quite a number were appointed to count
up the losses ; but their reports were so contradictory that
little reliance could be placed in them — apparently repeating
the process of counting them, in some instances, so that

* Captain Weir was born in Ireland, in 1743, where he early married a Miss McKelvey.
Their eldest son was born in Ireland, soon after which they emigrated to America, set-
tling on Buffalo Creek, at what is now known as Weir's Bridge, in Gaston County, North
Carolina. Weir was early commissioned a Captain, and was much engaged in scouting
service during the Revolution. His activity in the Whig cause excited the ire of the
Tories. Just before the battle of the Cowpens, he was caught and severely whipped by a
Tory party, and left in the woods securely tied to a tree ; but was fortunately soon after
found, and released by his friends. On another occasion, his wife was whipped by the
Tories for refusing to divulge to them the place of her husband's concealment. She died,
August n, 1819, and he on the 4th of September following, in his seventy-sixth year. Both
were long members of the Presbyterian church, and left many worthy descendants.

AND ITS HEROES. 307

the aggregate results greatly exceeded the facts in the case.
Among the natural rocky defenses, where many of the
Tories had posted themselves, upwards of twenty of their
dead bodies were found, completely jammed in between the
rocks, who had been shot directly through the head * —
so fatally accurate was the aim of the mountain-riflemen
when their antagonists ventured to peep out from their
chosen fastnesses.

Some considerable time was necessarily employed in
getting the prisoners properly secured, and in giving such
attention to the wounded Whigs as the circumstances would
permit ; Colonel Williams being taken into one of the
British markees, as were doubtless many others. Doctor
Johnson, of Ferguson's corps, seems to have been the good
Samaritan of the occasion, rendering such professional
services as he could, alike to the Whigs and his brother
Provincials ; while the wounded of the poor Loyalists
appear to have been left pretty much to their fate.

The truth is, that rarely, if ever, did a body of eighteen
hundred fighting men come into conflict, with so litttle pro-
visions to supply their wants. The Americans, in their
desperate pursuit of the enemy, trusting to luck, had literally
nothing ; while Ferguson had been scarcely any more prov-
ident in securing needful supplies. The country in the
immediate vicinity of King's Mountain was but sparsely
settled at that period. " It was dark again we got the
prisoners under guard," says the unknown chronicler of
Campbell's regiment, who left us his narrative of the
campaign and battle.

Many a souvenir was appropriated by the victors.
Captain Joseph McDowell, of Pleasant Garden, secured
some of Ferguson's table service — six of his china dinner
plates, and a small coffee cup and saucer; several of which
interesting war trophies are yet retained among his descend-
ants, f Colonel Shelby obtained the fallen Chieftain's

* Statements of Silas McBee and John Spelts to the author.

•f MS. letters of Mrs. R. M. Pearson, and Miss N. M. McDowell, grand-daughters, and
Miss Anna M. Woodfin, a great grand-daughter, of Captain McDowell.

308 KING 'S MO UNTAIN

famous silver whistle, while the smaller one fell to the lot of
Elias Powell ; and Colonel Sevier secured his silken sash,
and Lieutenant-Colonel's commission, and DePeyster's
sword. Colonel Campbell secured at least a portion of his
correspondence. Ferguson's white charger, who had
careered down the mountain when his master was shot from
his back, was, by general consent, assigned to the gallant
Colonel Cleveland, who was too unwieldy to travel on foot,
and who had lost his horse in the action. Samuel Talbot,
turning over Ferguson's dead body, picked up his pistol,
which had dropped from his pocket. His large silver watch,
as round as a turnip, fell into the hands of one of Lacey's
men ; and Doctor Moore, in his Life of Lacey, says he
frequently saw it ; that it traded for about forty-five or fifty
dollars as a curiosity.

" Awful, indeed," says Thomas Young, " was the scene
of the wounded, the dying and the dead, on the field, after
the carnage of that dreadful day." * " We had," observed
Benjamin Sharp, " to encamp on the ground with the dead
and wounded, and pass the night amid groans and lamen-
tations." f " My father, David Witherspoon," remarks his
son, " used to describe the scenes of the battle-ground the
night after the contest as heart-rending in the extreme —
the groans of the dying, and the constant cry of " water!
water ! " J "The groans of the wounded and dying on the
mountain," said John Spelts, " were truly affecting —
begging piteously for a little water ; but in the hurry, con-
fusion, and exhaustion of the Whigs, these cries, when
emanating from the Tories, were little heeded." §

"The red rose grew pale at the blood that was shed,
And the white rose blushed at the shedding."

Such was the night on King's Mountain immediately

* Young's Memoir in the Orion magazine,
•j- Sharp's narrative in the American Pioneer.

I MS. letter of Colonel J. H. Witherspoon, of Lauderdale County, Alabama, No-
vember, 1880.

g Conversations with Spelts, in December, 1843.

AND ITS HEROES. 309

succeeding the battle. While these surrounding sufferings
touched many a heart, others had become more or less
hardened, believing, so far as the Tories were concerned,
that their wretched condition, brought upon themselves,
was a just retribution from high heaven for their unnatural
opposition to the efforts of their countrymen to throw off the
chains of political bondage forged by the British Govern-
ment. The Whigs, weary as they were, had to take turns
in guarding the prisoners, with little or no refreshment ;
and caring, as best they could, for their own over three-
score wounded, with no little fear, withal, lest Tarleton
should suddenly dash upon them. It was a night of care,
anxiety and suffering, vividly remembered, and feelingly
rehearsed, as long as any of the actors were permitted to
survive.

310 KING 'S MO UNTAIN

CHAPTER XIV.

October, 1780.

Battle Incidents. — Long Sam Abney Coerced into Ferguson's Army. —
Death of Arthur Patterson. — Drury Mat his Rough Experience. —
A Tory Woman Finding her Slain Son. — Fatality of the Rifte?nen. —
Preston Goforth and three Brothers Killed. — A Brother Kills a
Brother. — The Whig and Tory Logans. — William Logan Noticed. —
Preparing to Retire — Burning Captured Wagons — Horse- Litters
for the Wounded. — Grays Kindness to a Wounded Tory. — A
Termagant Prisoner Released. — Messengers Sent to the Foot-Men. —
Arms Captured — Tories made to Carry Them. — Trophies of Vic-
tory.— A Whig Woman Refusing to Share in the Plunder. — Rumor
of Tarletons Approach. — Burial of the Whig and Tory Dead. —
Treat7nent of Ferguson Considered. — Re- Interment of Remains. —
March of the Army. — Death of Colonel Willa?ns. — Ca?np at Broad
River. — Willams" Burial — Discovery of his Long- Forgotten Grave.
— Six Tory Brothers Escape. — Notice of Colonel Walker. — Bran-
don s Barbarity. — Campbell Protecting the Prisoners. — Grays Retort
to a Tory Vixen. — Grays Services. — Suffering for Food. — Feeding
Prisoners on Corn and Pumpkins. — Billeting the Wounded. — March
to Bickerstaff's Old Fields.

In a contest like that on King's Mountain, lasting over
an hour, with eighteen hundred men engaged in mortal
combat, and with repeated charges and repulses, many a
battle-incident occurred of an interesting or exciting char-
acter. A number of them have already been related while
detailing the services of the several corps engaged in the
action ; but others, of a more general nature, or where Loy-
alists were referred to, may very appropriately be grouped
in this, connection.

Samuel Abney — better known as Long Sam Abney, to
distinguish him from others of the name — a resident of
Edgefield County, South Carolina, was a Whig both in

AND ITS HEROES. 311

principle and practice. Upon the fall of Charleston, and
the occupation of Ninety-Six and Augusta by a strong
British force, the great body of the people were forced to
submit — to take protection, which they understood to mean
neutrality ; but which the British leaders construed very
differently. They were treated as conquered Rebels, and,
in many instances, were compelled to take up arms in
defence of a Government which they loathed, and to fight
against their country's freedom to which their hearts were
devoted. Such was Abney's situation. He was forced
into Ferguson's Loyalist corps, and was marched to King's
Mountain.

At the commencement of the battle, he stationed him-
self behind a rock, where he would be secure from the balls
of either side, determined not to fight against his country-
men. He could not, and would not, take part in shooting
his own friends, was his secret thought and resolution. But
amid the shower of bullets frying in every direction, he was
not so safe as he had flattered himself; for while leaning on
his rifle, and probably indulging in the curiosity of taking a
view of the combatants, he unintentionally exposed his
person more than he had designed, when a ball penetrated
the fleshy part of his arm. This made him " a little mad,"
as he expressed it ; still he had, as yet, no thought of taking
part in the contest. Presently, however, he was struck
with another ball; which made him "mighty mad," and
he then turned in and fought with the bravest and boldest
of Ferguson's troops. Before the action was over, he was
riddled with bullets, as he related the story of the fight —
seven balls taking effect on his person. He was left in a
helpless, unconscious condition, among the slain and
wounded on the battle-field ; but fortunately the frost of the
ensuing night revived him. He crawled to a neighboring
branch, and slacked his burning thirst. He was sub-
sequently found by one of the people of that region, who
compassionately conveyed him to his home, and bound up

312 KING'S MOUNTAIN

his wounds ; and, after many days, he recovered, and
returned to his friends. He lived to a good old age, and
used merrily to relate how he was shot, and how he was
provoked to shoot back again, at King's Mountain. *

In the neighborhood of King's Mountain, on King's
creek, resided old Arthur Patterson, an Irishman, who
was devoted to the Whig cause, as well as his several sons
who were settled around him. On the morning preceding
the battle, a party of Ferguson's foragers ranging along
that stream, came across three of the young Pattersons,
Arthur, Jr., Thomas and William, together with James
Lindsay; arrested and marched them to camp, where they
were placed under guard, awaiting trial. The same day,
learning of the apprehension of his sons, the aged father
of the Pattersons started for the camp, to see if he could do
anything towards effecting their release. Meanwhile the
Whigs suddenly made their appearance, encircled the
mountain, and commenced their attack. During the prog-
ress of the action, while the Americans were pressing the
enemy, the guards were ordered to take their places in
the line of defence, and aid, if possible, in checking the
advance of the mountaineers. Left to themselves, amid the
confusion of the battle, the prisoners resolved to make a
push for freedom. Lindsay, together with William and
Arthur Patterson, Jr., ran through an opening in the British
lines, and escaped unharmed — Arthur with a portion of the
rope, with which he had been fastened, still dangling from
his neck- Thomas Patterson, possessing perhaps more of a
belligerent nature, watched his opportunity, between fires,
and made a bold dash for the Whig lines, reaching Shelby's
corps, where he picked up the rifle of a wounded soldier,
and fought bravely until victory was proclaimed. His aged
father was less fortunate. His old Irish blood, as he came
in view of the noble army of patriots, was stirred within

* Random Recollections of the Revolution, by Hon. J. B. O'Neall, in the Southern
Literary Journal, August, 1838, pp. 106-7.

AND ITS HEROES. 313

him ; and hoping that he might aid in liberating both his
sons and his country, he warmly joined in the fray, and
was killed. *

Drury Mathis, who resided at Saluda Old town, on the
Saluda, in South Carolina, some two and a half miles above
the mouth of Little river, had united his fortunes with Fer-
guson. In the third charge which was made against Camp-
bell's men, Mathis was badly wounded, and fell to the
ground. The spot where he had fallen was halfway down
the mountain, where the balls from the Virginians fell
around him almost as thick as hail. He used to relate, that
as the mountaineers passed over him, he would play
possum ; but he could plainly observe their faces and eyes ;
and to him those bold, brave riflemen appeared like so
many devils from the infernal regions, so full of excitement
were they as they darted like enraged lions up the mount-
ain. He said they were the most powerful looking men he
ever beheld ; not over-burdened with fat, but tall, raw-boned,
and sinewy, with long matted hair — such men, as a body,
as were never before seen in the Carolinas. With his feet
down the declivity, he said he could not but observe that
his Loyalist friends were very generally over-shooting the
Americans ; and that if ever a poor fellow hugged mother
earth closely, he did on that trying occasion. After the battle
— the next day, probably — he was kindly taken to a house in
that region, and nursed till his wound had healed, when he
returned to Ninety-Six, an humbled, if not a wiser man.
He lived to enjoy a green old age ; but used stoutly to swear
that he never desired to see King's Mountain again. \

Thomas Mullineaux, a youth, lived with his mother,
some two miles from the mountain. He used to relate, in
his old age, that when the firing began, his mother and the
family were sitting down to a late dinner. Presently a
neighboring woman came running in, wringing her hands,

*MS. letters of Colonel J. R. Logan, Dr. W. J. T. Miller, Abraham Hardin; Hunter's
Sketches. 311; Moore's Lacey, 18; The Carolinian, Hickory, North Carolina, Oct. ist, 1880.
f MS. papers of Dr. John H. Logan.

314 KING yS MO UN TAIN

and uttering her deep lamentations over the dangers sur-
rounding her son, who had enlisted under the banners of
Ferguson. After the firing had, at length, ceased, and
all was still again, as if nothing had occurred to disturb the
peace that had brooded over the mountain from time
immemorial, the poor woman hastened, with a heavy heart,
accompanied by young Mullineaux, to the scene of action.
Turning up the faces of the dead and wounded Tories,
scattered along the sides, and upon the crest of the moun-
tain, she at length discovered the gory body of her son
pierced by a rifle ball. It was a heart-rending scene.*

The fatality of the sharp-shooters at King's Mountain
almost surpasses belief. Riflemen took off riflemen with
such exactness, that they killed each other when taking
sight, so instantaneously that their eyes remained, after
they were dead, one shut and the other o-peit — in the usual
manner of marksmen when leveling at their object. \ Wil-
kinson, in his Memoirs, refers to " the Southern States, rent
by civil feuds, bleeding by the hands of brothers ; " and cites
an incident in point at King's Mountain, related to him by
Colonel Shelby, '-'•that two brothers, expert riflemen, were
seen to -present at each other, to fire and fall at the same
instant — their names were given to me, but they have
escaped my memory." \

It is not improbable that these two brothers who con-
fronted and killed each other, as related by Colonel Shelby,
were of the Goforth family, of Rutherford County, North
Carolina. At least, four brothers — Preston Goforth on the
Whig side, and John Goforth and two others in the Tory
ranks — all participated in the battle, and all were killed.
It was a remarkable fatality. §

Another instance of brother killing a brother, during the
engagement, is thus related: A Whig soldier noticed a

*Dr. J. H. Logan's manuscripts.

f Lamb's Journal. 308.

J Wilkinson's Memoirs, i, 115.

g MS. Correspondence of W. L. Twitty.

AND ITS HEROES. 315

good deal of execution in a particular part of his line from a
certain direction on the other side. On close observation,
he discovered that the fatal firing on the part of Ferguson's
men, proceeded from behind a hollow chestnut tree, and
through a hole in it. He concluded to make an effort to
silence that battery, and aimed his rifle shots repeatedly at
the aperture. At length the firing from that quarter ceased.
After the battle, his curiosity prompted him to examine the
place, and discovered that he had killed one of his own
brothers, and wounded another, who had joined the Loyalist
forces, and concealed themselves in the rear of this tree.
So much did the patriot brother take the circumstance to
heart, that he became almost deranged in consequence.*

There were four brothers, all of Lincoln County, North
Carolina, who shared in the battle — William and Joseph
Logan, on the Whig side, and John and Thomas Logan
among Ferguson's forces. William Logan belonged to
Mattock's company, and was close by his Captain when he
fell — the fatal ball having passed a hollow dead chestnut
tree. Joseph Logan, the other Whig brother, was a Baptist
preacher ; and, during the engagement, he, with a Presby-
terian minister, wrestled with the Lord in prayer, as in
olden times, to stay up the hands of their friends. Thomas
Logan, one of the Tory brothers, had his thigh badly
broken, and was left on the field of battle ; while his
brother, John Logan, was taken among the prisoners, and
afterwards died a pauper. f These political divisions in
families, which were not unfrequent, were exceedingly
unpleasant, engendering much bitterness and animosity.

*Rev. E. R. Rockwell, of Cool Spring, North Carolina, in Historical Magazine,
September, 1867, p. 181.

T MS. Correspondence of Colonel J. R Logan. His grandfather, William Logan, who
shared in the glories of King's Mountain, was a native of Virginia, born in 1749, descend-
ing from Scotch-Irish ancestry. Before the war, he married Jane Black, and settled in
Lincoln County. North Carolina. He did good service at King's Mountain, and rendered
himself useful during the continuance of the contest, for which in his advanced years he
drew a pension. After the war he settled on main Buffalo creek, on the border of York
County, South Carolina, where he died in 1832, at the age of eighty-three years, having
dropped dead in the field while feeding his cattle. He left five sons and two daughters, and
was long a worthy member of the Baptist church.

316 KING 'S MO UNTAIN

In the morning, after the battle, a man was discovered
on the top of the mountain — one of the Tories, it is believed
— with a bullet hole through his head, a rifle ball having
entered his forehead, and passed out at the back part of his
cranium ; and strange to say, he was still alive, and sitting
in an upright posture on the ground. Some of his brains
had oozed out on either side of his head ; and though
unconscious, he was yet breathing. It was proposed by
those who saw him, that they would gently lay him down ;
and, on doing so, he instantly expired.*

On Sabbath morning, October the eighth, the sun shone
brightly, the first time in several days, and the patriots
were early astir — prompted thereto by two very pressing
motives. One was, that they might get on their return
route as quickly as possible, to secure a much needed sup-
ply of provisions ; the other to hasten beyond the reach of
the dreaded Colonel Tarleton, an encounter with whom
was very undesirable, encumbered as they were with so
many prisoners, and the necessary care and conveyance of
their own wounded. Seventeen baggage wagons were,
according to Colonel Shelby's letter to his father, among
the trophies of victory ; and these, says Ramsey's Tennes-
see, were drawn by the men across their camp-fires and
consumed. To have attempted to carry them along, would
have retarded their march over a rough country ; and the
wounded could be best borne on the journey on horse-litters,
by fastening two long poles on either side of two horses at
tandem, leaving a space of six or eight feet between them,
stretching tent-cloth or blankets between the poles, on which
to place a disabled officer or soldier.

In rambling that morning among the Tory wounded,
who lay scattered about — all who could had crept to the
branch to quench their raging thirst — James Gray, of the
Rutherford troops, discovered an old acquaintance wounded

*J. L. Gray's MS. narrative, derived from James Gray, one of the King's Mountain
men.

AND ITS HEROES. 317

in the ankle, and unable to walk. Gray was fully aware,
that the unfortunate man was not one of those disrepu-
table Tories who had joined the King's standard, like
Plundering Sam Brown, simply for the sake of being
protected in rapine and plunder. He had joined Fergu-
son from conscientious motives, believing it his duty
to fight for the Royal Government. Gray feeling kindly
towards his old friend, took out his pocket-handkerchief,
bound up his broken limb, and did whatever else he could
to ameliorate his unhappy condition. Nor was this kind-
ness thrown away. Recovering from his wound, the
Loyalist became a useful citizen to his country ; and, as
long as he lived, he manifested the strongest friendship for
Gray, who had shown him compassion in the day of his
distress. *

Among the prisoners, Colonel Shelby discovered some
officers who had fought under his banner, a few weeks pre-
viously, at Musgrove's Mill. They declared that they had
been forced to join Ferguson, or fare worse ; and when
their cases had been inquired into, and their representations
found to be correct, their misfortunes were commisserated,
and they were henceforth regarded as friends, f Here a
woman was liberated from captivity, who had been taken pris-
oner in Burke County during Colonel Ferguson's inva-
sion of that region in the month preceding. She was a regu-
lar termagant — especially excited by the presence of Tories,
and in this instance, her ire had probably been provoked
by the reckless plunder of her property, and she had appar-
ently been apprehended because she gave them a piece of
her tongue, in a manner quite too loose and reckless to suit
the fastidious notions of his Majesty's representatives in the
backwoods of America. \ Once again free in body, as her
unruly member always had been, she renewedly indulged
her propensity, we may well judge, of saying ugly things
of Ferguson and his men to her heart's content.

* J. L. Gray's MS. statement, and Rutherford Enquirer, May 24, 1859.

f Shelby, in American Review, December, 1848.

J MS. statement of W. L. Twitty, derived from Colonel W. H. Miller.

318 KING'S MOUNTAIN

Early that morning, Colonel Campbell ordered two of
his men, William Snodgrass and Edward Smith, to return
on the route on which the army had advanced, so as to
meet the party of footmen, and prevent their further
approach in the direction of King's Mountain. Declining
a guard, because, as the messengers said, the patriots already
had the whole population of that region, either as soldiers
or prisoners, they went on, without any mishap or adventure,
to Broad river — apparently at the Cherokee Ford — where
they met their countrymen. They imparted to them the
joyful tidings of victory, and turned their course, in
obedience to orders, up the stream. *

According to the official report of Colonel Campbell
and associates, fifteen hundred stand of arms were cap-
tured ; but in Colonel Shelby's letter to his father, written
five davs after the battle, twelve hundred is the number
stated — and a portion of these were supernumerary, designed
for new recruits. "The prisoners," says Shelby, "were
made to carry their own arms, as they could not have been
carried in any other way." The flints were taken from the
locks ; and, to the more strong and healthy Tories, two guns
each were assigned for conveyance. When ready to start
on the day's journey, the prisoners were marched, in single
file, by the spot where the rifles and muskets were stacked,
and each was directed to shoulder and carry the arms
allotted to him. Colonel Shelby, with his sword drawn,
stood by, among others, to see that the order was strictly
obe}^ed. One old fellow came toddling by, and evinced a
determination not to encumber himself with a gun. Shelby
sternly ordered him to shoulder one without delay. The
old man demurred, declaring he was not able to carry it.
Shelby told him, with a curse, that he was able to bring
one there, and he should carry one away ; and, at the same
time gave him a smart slap across his shoulders with the
flat side of his sword-blade. The old fellow, discovering

* MS. letter of \Vm. Snodgrass to Ex-Governor David Campbell, August 15th, 1842.

AND ITS HEROES. 319

that he could not trifle with such a man as Shelby, jumped
at the gun-pile, shouldered one, and marched away in
double-quick time. *

There were not a few other articles, military and per-
sonal, that fell into the hands of the victors. These seem
to have been retained by those who possessed themselves of
them — as the troops, be it remembered, had not engaged in
the service by any order of Congress, or of their respective
States. It was entirely a volunteer movement — no baggage-
wagons, no commissaries, no pay, and no supplies. General
Lenoir adds, that by the victory of King's Mountain, <c many
militia officers procured swords who could not possibly get
any before ; neither was it possible to procure a good sup-
ply of ammunition."

If the soldiers, who had marched so far and suffered so
much, in order to meet and conquer Ferguson and his army,
were not unwilling to appropriate to their own use the
trophies of victory, there is at least one recorded instance
in which a sturdy Whig woman of the country refused
to profit by the spoils of war. Two brothers, Moses and
James Henry, of the Lincoln troops, residing in what is
now Gaston County, fought bravely in the battle ; Moses
Henry sealing his devotion to his country with his life's
blood — dying, not long thereafter, in the hospital at Char-
lotte, of the wound he received in the action. His brother,
James Henry, while passing through the woods near the
scene of the conflict, a few days after the engagement,
found a very fine horse, handsomely equipped with an
elegant saddle, the reins of the bridle being broken. The
horse and equipments had belonged, as he supposed, to
some officer of the enemy. He took the animal home with
him, greatly elated with his good luck ; but his patriotic
mother meeting him at the gate, immediately inquired whose
horse it was? He replied, that he judged that it had be-

* Shelby's narrative in the American Review, Ramsey's Tennessee, -2i,-z\ General
Lenoir's statement; T. L. Gray's MSS. ; Rutherford Enquirer, May 24th, 1859.

320 KING >S MO UNTAIN

longed to some British officer. " James, " said the mother,
sternly, " turn it'loose, and drive it off the place, for I will
not have the hands of my household soiled with British
plunder." Colonel Moses Henry Hand, a worthy citizen
of Gaston County, is a grandson of Moses Henry who was
mortally wounded at King's Mountain. *

At length the patriot army was ready to commence its
long and tedious return march, encumbered with their
wounded, and over six hundred prisoners. A report was
prevalent that morning, that Tarleton's cavalry was press-
ing on, and would attempt to rescue the prisoners, f and
inflict punishment upon the audacious mountaineers ; but
while it was only camp rumor, brought in by people from
the surrounding country, whose curiosity had prompted
them to visit the battle-field, yet the Whig leaders deemed
it wise to waste no time unnecessarily. Much of the morn-
ing had been consumed in preparing litters for the wounded.

When the army marched, some ten o'clock in the fore-
noon, Colonel Campbell remained behind with a party of
men to bury their unfortunate countrymen. \ The British
Lieutenant Allaire states, that before the troops moved,
orders were given to his men by Colonel Campbell, that
should they be attacked on the march, to fire on and destroy
the prisoners. We have no means of determining whether
such orders were given on the supposition of Tarleton's pos-
sible pursuit, and attempt to rescue the captives ; or it may
be, if there was any foundation for the statement, it was
made in a modified form.

A place of sepulture was selected, upon a small eleva-
tion, some eighty or a hundred yards south-east of Fergu-
son's head-quarters ; large pits were dug, and a number of
the slain placed together, with blankets thrown over them,
and thus hurriedly buried. § Tarleton asserts, on some

* Hunter's Sketches, pp. 296-97.

+ MS. letter of Wm. Snodgrass to Governor Campbell; Mills' Statistics, 779; conver-
sations with Silas McBee and John Spelts, survivors of the battle.
\ Statement of Joseph Phillips, one of Cleveland's men.
§ MS. letters of Wm. Snodgrass and John Craig, of Camobell's regiment.

AND ITS HEROES. 321

reports he had heard, that the mountaineers used every
insult and indignity towards the dead body of Ferguson ; *
and Hanger, an officer at that time in Tarleton's corps,
declares that such was the inveteracy of the Americans
against the British leader, that while they buried all the
other bodies, they stripped Ferguson's of its clothes, and
left it naked on the field of battle, to be devoured by the
turkey-buzzards of the country, f

Colonel Ferguson's biographer repeats the statement
that his body was stripped, and his surviving comrades
were denied the privilege of bestowing upon his remains
the honors of a soldier's burial ; but that the neighboring
people subsequently accorded to him a decent interment. \
Mills, in his Statistics of South Carolina, remarks, that
the victors, dreading the arrival of Tarleton, "hastened from
the scene of action ; nor durst they attend to the burial of
the dead, or to take care of the wounded, many of whom
were seen upon the ground, two days after the battle,
imploring a little water to cool their burning tongues ; but
they were left to perish there, and this long hill was
whitened with their bones."

That Ferguson's elegant clothing, under his duster or
hunting-shirt, may have been taken, and that even some
indignities may have been shown by an excited soldiery,
towards the British leader's lifeless body, is quite possible ;
if so, it is strange that two officers of his corps, much
devoted to him, Lieutenant Allaire and Captain Ryerson,
should make no mention of any such circumstance in
their narratives of King's Mountain battle. At all events,
when Colonel Campbell detailed a party of his troops
to remain behind to bury the American dead, he directed
a number of the British prisoners to dig pits for the
interment of their fallen companions, and at the same

* Tarleton's Campaigns, quarto edition, 165.
-j- Hanger's Life and Opinions, ii, 406.
\ Dr. Ferguson's Memoir, 35.
21

322 KING'S MOUNTAIN

time, detained Doctor Johnson to attend to the wounded of
the enemy before his final departure.* That the grave-pits
were shallow, and the work of sepulture hastily performed,
is very likely, for the reception of both the American and
British remains ; but all was undoubtedly done that well
could be, under the circumstances, with such limited facil-
ties as they possessed, and in their half-starved condition,
and, withal, threatened, as they supposed, with a visit from
Tarleton's Legion. The British dead were interred in two
pits — one a very large one, probably where the Tories were
laid, side by side ; the other, a smaller one, where doubt-
less the men of Ferguson's corps were buried. \

The wolves of the surrounding country were soon
attracted to the spot by the smell of flesh and blood ; and
for several weeks they revelled upon the carcasses of the
slain — some of which had been overlooked and left un-
buried, while others were scratched out of their shallow
graves by these prowlers of the wilderness. Vultures and
wolves divided the human plunder ; and so bold and
audacious did the latter grow, gorging on flesh, that they,
in some instances, showed a disposition to attack the living,
when visiting the scene of the battle. And long after the
war, it is said, that King's Mountain was the favorite resort
of the wolf-hunter. \

* MS. letter of Wm. Snodgrass to Governor Campbell, August 15th, 1842; Benjamin
Sharp's statement in the American Pioneer. These acts of kindness on the part of Colonel
Campbell, effectually disprove the supposition of Carrington. in his Battles of the Revo-
lution, that the Tory wounded were deliberately slaughtered by the victorious patriots.

•{-MS. correspondence of Abraham Hardin.

J Doctor Logan's MSS.„ and his History of Upper South Carolina, 68; MS. corres-
pondence of Colonel J. R. Logan ; Mills' Statistics, 779.

It may be added, in this connection, that in 1815, through the instrumentality of Doctor
William McLean, of Lincoln County, North Carolina, a day was set apart, and the
scattered human bones on the mountain, dragged away from their former resting places by
the voracious wolves, were collected together, and re-interred; and the old monument or
head-stone of dark slate rock erected at the expense of Doctor McLean, who delivered
a suitable address on the occasion. The monument bears this inscription: On the east
side—" Sacred to the memory of Major William Chronicle, Captain John Mattocks, William
Robb, and John Boyd, who were killed at this place on the 7th of October, 1780, fighting
in defence of America.'' On the west side: "Colonel Ferguson, an officer of his
Britannic Majesty, was defeated and killed at this place, on the 7th of October. 1780." —
Mills' Statistics, 779; Hunter's Sketches, pp. 289, 311; MS. correspondence of Abraham
Hardin.

AND ITS HEROES. 323

When the army took up its line of march, strongly
guarding their prisoners, the tenderest possible care was
bestowed on the suffering wounded, conveyed on the horse-
litters — and of none more so than on the heroic Colonel
Williams. In the early part of the afternoon, when about
three miles south-west of the battle ground, on the route
towards Deer's Ferry on Broad river, the little guard having
him in charge, discovering that life was fast ebbing away,
stopped by the road-side at Jacob Randall's place, since long
the homestead of Abraham Hardin, where he quietly
breathed his last. His death was a matter of sincere grief to
the whole army. His friends resolved, at first, to carry his
remains to his old home, near Little river, in Laurens
County ; but soon after changed this determination. March-
ing some twelve miles from the battle ground, they en-
camped that night near the eastern bank of Broad river,
and a little north of Buffalo creek, on the road leading to
North Carolina, and within two or three miles of Boren's or
Bowen's river and known also as Camp's creek. Here
at the deserted plantation of a Tory named Waldron as
Allaire has it — or Fondren, as Silas McBee remembered
the name* — they found good camping ground, with plenty
of dry rails and poles for their evening fires, and happily
a sweet potato patch sufficiently large to supply the whole
army.

" This," says Benjamin Sharp, "was most fortunate,
for not one in fifty of us had tasted food for the last two
days and nights — since we left the Cowpens." During the
evening Colonel Campbell and party rejoined the patriots ;
and the footmen arrived whom they had left at the ford of
Green river, and who had made commendable progress in
following so closely upon the mounted advance ; and who

*CoI. J. R. Logan fully corroborates McBse's statement — that instead of Waldron, as
Allaire has it, the name of the owner of the plantation where Williams was buried, was
Matthew Fondren, connected with the Quinns of that region — so states Mrs. Margaret
Roberts, nee Quinn, now nearly ninety years of age, and reared in that locality. Fondren
was subsequently thrown from a chair or gig, and killed.

324 KING'S MOUNTAIN

had, moreover, the good fortune to secure a temporary
supply of food — live beef cattle, probably ; so that the
hungry mountaineers, almost famished, now enjoyed a
happy repast.*

The next morning, for want of suitable conveyance, the
friends of Colonel Williams concluded to bury his remains
were they were. They were accordingly interred with the
honors of war, between the camp of the patriots and the
river, a little above the mouth of Buffalo creek — on what
was long known as the Fondren, then the old Carruth
place, now belonging to Captain J. B. Mintz. f Having
performed this touching service, and fired a parting volley
over the newly made grave of one of the noted heroes of
the war of independence, the army, late in the day,
renewed its line of march apparently up Broad river ; and
after passing what Allaire calls Bullock's creek, but what
is evidently Boren's river they took up quarters for the
night on its northern bank, having accomplished only two
and a half miles. Beside the burial of Colonel Williams,
the precarious condition of the wounded, probably, re-
tarded the progress of this day's march, and time was
needed for recuperation.

Tuesday, the tenth, was a busy day. The course pur-
sued would seem to have been still up main Broad river,
crossing First Broad and Sandy run, in a north-westerly
direction, towards Gilbert Town, and camping in the woods
that night, probably not very far from Second Broad
river, after having accomplished a march of twenty
# miles. An incident occurred on this part of the route,

* Snodgrass MS. letter to Governor Campbell; Sharp's narrative; General Lenoir's
statement; Allaire's MS. Diary; and conversations with Silas M-cBee.

f MS. correspondence of Colonel J. R. Logan and Abraham Hardin. Colonel Logan
adds, that he learned from Captain Mintz that a tradition had been handed down that
Colonel Williams was buried in that neighborhood, and no little pains had been taken to
identify the grave by various people, and even by some of Colonel Williams' descendants,
but without success. At length Captain Mintz employed some men to shrub off a field
long overgrown, and requested them to watch for the long-forgotten grave ; and sure enough,
they found a grave with a head and foot stone composed of a different kind of rock from
those abounding there, and well overgrown with grape vines. Though there was no in-
scription on the head-stone, there is no doubt it is the grave of *' Old King's Mountain Jim."

AND ITS HEROES. 325

worthy of notice. Among the prisoners were six brothers
named Gage, who had joined Ferguson in consequence of
the Tory influences surrounding them. During the second
day's march, one of the Gages was taken ill, when the
officer of the day, who probably could not provide any
means for his conveyance, and possibly surmising that he
was feigning sickness, in order to seek an opportunity to
escape, or delay the Whigs so thatTarleton might overtake
them, urged the sick prisoner to keep pace with the others.
His brothers, to save him from possible calamity, took turns
in carrying him on their backs ; and they adopted the plan
of availing themselves of their peculiar situation to lag as
much behind as possible, with a view of taking advantage
of the first considerable stream they should have occasion to
pass, in the night, to fall down in the water, and suffer the
rear guard to ride over them. Their scheme succeeded,
and they thus escaped in the darkness unobserved.* The
Whigs kept up their march of evenings, so long as they
thought it necessary to place themselves beyond the reach
of British pursuit.

During Wednesday, the eleventh, the army marched
twelve miles, and encamped at Colonel John Walker's,
according to Allaire's Diary. Colonel Walker, one of the
prominent Whig leaders of the country, resided some five
miles north-east of Gilbert Town, on the east side of Cane
creek, half a mile above its mouth, and a mile below the
present Brittain church. f There seems to have been

^Conversations with Benjamin Starritt, in 1843.

t Colonel Walker was born on Bohemia Creek, New Castle County, Delaware, in 1728.
When grown, he settled on the South Branch of Potomac, Hampshire County. Virginia,
where he married Elizabeth Watson. He served as a volunteer under Colonel Washington,
and shared in Braddock's disastrous defeat in 1755. He shortly after removed to North
Carolina, settling first on Leeper's Creek, in now Lincoln County, and served on Colonel
Grant's campaign against the Cherokees in 1761. He subsequently located on Crowder's
Creek ; and, in 1768, at the mouth of Cane Creek, where he purchased a fine tract of four
hundred acres for a doubloon. He was a man of marked character and prominence, hold-
ing several commissions under the Colonial Government — Colonel Commandant of Tryon
County, and Judge of the Court for many years. On the breaking out of the Revolution,
sharing in the sympathies of the people, he resigned his Loyal offices, and was among the
foremost in signing the Articles of Association, pledging resistance to British encroachments,

326 KING 'S MO UNTAIN

individual cases of savage severity, even to murder, exer-
cised towards the prisoners. Colonel Brandon^ a rough,
impulsive Irishman, discovering that one of the Tories, who
had been carrying a couple of the captured guns, had
dodged into a hollow sycamore by the road-side, dragged
him from his hiding place, and completely hacked him to
pieces with his sword.* Hints and innuendoes have been
occasionally thrown out against Colonel Campbell himself
as guilty of heartless cruelty to the Tory prisoners ; f but
the following extract from his General Order, at the camp
below Gilbert Town, October eleventh, 1780, probably in
the early part of the day, should be a complete vindication
of his memory and good name from such a charge: " I
must," he said, "request the officers of all ranks in the
army to endeavor to restrain the disorderly manner of
slaughtering and disturbing the prisoners. If it cannot be
prevented by moderate measures, such effectual punishment
shall be executed upon delinquents as will put a stop to it." \
It would appear that the army, on its march this day,
passed through Gilbert Town ; and resting there awhile,
the prisoners were placed in a pen, in which Ferguson,
when stationed there, had confined captured Whigs. When
the British held full sway in that quarter, a Tory woman
there was asked what the leaders were going to do with
their Rebel prisoners in the bull-pen? "We are going,"
she tartly replied, " to hang all the d — dold Rebels, and take
their wives, scrape their tongues, and let them go." This

in August, 1775; and. the same month, served as a member of the Convention at Hillsboro.
His sons took an active part in the war, one of whom, Felix Walker, represented Ruther-
ford County seven years in the House of Commons, and six in Congress. Colonel Walker,
in 1787, removed to the mouth of Green river, in Rutherford County, where he died
January 25th, 1796, in his sixty-eighth year. He was one of the pioneer fathers of Western
Carolina. For most of the facts in this note, we acknowledge our indebtedness to the
Memoirs of Hon. Felix Walker, edited by his grandson, Samuel R Walker.

-'Conversations with the late Dr. A. Q. Bradley, who had this incident from one of
Brandon's men.

T Statements of Henry Blevins, John Lang and Jacob Isely. appended to Shelby's
King's Mountain pamphlet, 1823; and W. A. Henderson's published Lecture on Governor
John Sevier, at Knoxville, Tennessee, in January, 1873.

J Copied from the original, furnished by General John S. Preston ; Bancroft, x, 340.

AND ITS HEROES. 327

same Loyalist lady, now when the changes of fortune had so
suddenly reversed matters, again visited the prison-pen,
where her husband, who had joined Ferguson's forces, was
among those in confinement ; and, with eyes filled with
tears, touchingly inquired of James Gray, one of the
guard, " What are you Whigs going to do with these
poor fellows ? " Retorting in her own slang language, to
annoy and humble her, he replied : " We are going to hang
all the d — d old Tories, and take their wives, scrape their
tongues, and let them go." This severe response com-
pletely confounded the termagant, against whose friends
and cause the battle had gone, and she silently retired.*

Remaining in camp at Walker's during Thursday, the
twelfth, the baggage of the British leaders was divided
among the Whig officers, save a small portion granted to
Captain DePeyster and his associates for a change. Colonel
Shelby, referring to the tardy movements of the troops,
observes : " Owing to the number of wounded, and the des-
titution of the army of all conveyances, they traveled
slowly, and in one' week had only marched about forty
miles." f Another trying circumstance was, that in conse-
quence of the contending armies having either occupied, or
repeatedly traversed, this sparsely settled region, during the
preceding two or three months, the people were completely

*MS. statement of J. L. Gray, derived from his grandfather, James Gray; Rutherford
Enquirer,. May 24th, 1859.

James Gray, who generously bound up. with his handkerchief, the broken ankle of a
Tory acquaintance at King's Mountain, and treated the Tory woman with a touch of his
biting sarcasm, was a worthy Revolutionary soldier. He was born in Augusta County,
Virginia, in 1755, and settled in Tryon, since Rutherford County, North Carolina, prior to
the Revolution. He served throughout the war, a part of the time in Captain Miller's com-
pany. He took part in Rutherford's campaign against the' Cherokees in 1776; in the fight
at Earle s on North Pacolet ; in chasing Dunlap to Prince's Fort; and was in Captain
Edward Hampton's company at the capture of Fort Anderson, on Thicketty creek. It
was, as he used to relate, a matter of great satisfaction to him, that he aided in capturing
at King's Mountain some of his Tory acquaintances who had formerly pursued him when
unable to defend himself. He served in Captain Inman's company at the siege of Ninety
Six, in 1781 ; and not long after was appointed a Captain, and guarded the stations at
Earle's, Russell's, Waddletons and White Oak. Captain Gray lived to enjoy a pension,
and died in Rutherford County, October 21st, 1836, at the good old age of eighty-one years.

^American Review, December, 1848.

328 KING 'S MO UNTAIN

stripped of provisions, and both the patriots and their pris-
oners suffered greatly for want of the necessaries of life.
"The party," says the British Lieutenant Allaire, "was
kept marching two days without any kind of provisions."
Thomas Young, in his narrative, refers to the army
arriving on Cane creek with the prisoners "where," he adds,
"we all came near starving to death. The country was
very thinly settled, and provisions could not be had for love
or money. I thought green pumpkins, sliced and fried,
about the sweetest eating I ever had in my life. " * The poor
prisoners fared worse, for their food was uncooked. When
camped for the night, they were fed, while surrounded by a
cordon-guard, like so many farmer's swine — corn upon the
ear, and raw pumpkins, being thrown to them, which the
hungry fellows would seize with avidity. \ To expedite the
march of the army, Colonel Campbell issued an order on
the thirteenth, while yet encamped at Walker's place,
directing that all the wounded who were not able to march
with the army, should be billeted in the best manner pos-
sible, the several companies to which they belonged provid-
ing the necessary assistance for their removal to places
selected for them. \ This was probably intended to lighten
the army of a part of its encumbrance ; but we judge, it was
found impracticable in that settlement, in consequence of
the scarcity of provisions. That day, according to Allaire's
Dicwy, the troops moved, with their prisoners, five or six
miles, north-east of Walker's to BickerstafT's, or Bigger-
stafT's Old Fields, since known as the Red Chimneys, where
a stack of chimneys long stood after the house had decayed
and been demolished. This locality is on Robertson's
creek, some nine miles north-east of the present village of
Rutherfordton.

* Orion Magazine, October, 1843.

•{-Conversations with John Spelts, an eye-witness to these scenes ; and also with Ben-
jamin Starritt.

J Colonel Campbell's MS. order, preserved by General Preston.

AND ITS HEROES. 329

CHAPTER XV.

October— November, 1780.

Colonel Campbell Denounces Plundering. — Complaints against Tory
Leaders. — Their Outrages on the Whigs. — A Court called to Con-
sider the Matter. — Retaliation for British Executions Demanded. —
A Law Found to Meet the Case. — Charges against Mills, Gilkey,
and McFall. — Colonel Davenport Noticed. — Number of Tories
Tried and Condemned. — Case of James Crawford. — One of the
Prisoners Released. — Cleveland Favoring Severe Measures. —
Motives of the Patriots Vindicated. — Shelby s Explanation. —
Tories Executed — their Names and Residence. — Paddy Carr's
Remarks, and Notice of Him. — Baldwin s Singular Escape. —
Further Executions Stopped. — Tories Subsequently Hung. — Rumor
of Tarleton s Approach. — Whigs Hasten to the Catawba. — A Hard
Days March — Sufferings of Patriots and Prisoners. — Major Mc-
Dowells Kindness. — Mrs. McDowells Treatment of British Offi-
cers.— Some of the Whig Troops Retire. — Disposition of the Wounded.
— Prisoners Escape — One Re-taken and Hung. — March to the
Moravian Settlements. — Bob Powells Challenge. — Official Account
of the Battle Prepared. — Campbell and Shelby Visit Ge7ieral Gates.
— Cleveland left in Command. — His Trial of Tories. — Escape of
Green and Langum. — Cleveland Assaults Doctor "Johnson. — Colonel
Artnstroiig Succeeds to the Command. — Escape of British Officers.

While encamped at BickerstafF 's, on Saturday, the four-
teenth, Colonel Campbell issued a General Order, deplor-
ing the " man}^ deserters from the army," and the felonies
committed by them on the poverty-stricken people of the
country. " It is with anxiety." he adds, " that I hear the
complaints of the inhabitants on account of the plundering
parties who issue out of the camp, and indiscriminately rob
both Whig and Tory, leaving our friends, I believe, in a
worse situation than the enemy would have done;" and
appeals to the officers "to exert themselves in suppressing

330 KING'S MOUNTAIN

this abominable practice, degrading to the name of soldiers."
He further orders that none of the troops be discharged,
till the prisoners can be transferred to a proper guard. *
But some of the prisoners were soon to be disposed of in a
manner evidently not anticipated when the order just issued
was made known to the army.

During this day, an important occurrence transpired at
BickerstafF's. The officers of the two Carolinas united in
presenting a complaint to Colonel Campbell, that there
were, among the prisoners, a number who were robbers,
house-burners, parole-breakers, and assassins. The British
victory near Camden had made, says General Preston,
" Cornwallis complete master of South Carolina. This
power he was using with cruelty, unparalleled in modern
civilized conquest ; binding down the conquered people
like malefactors, regarding each Rebel as a condemned
criminal, and checking every murmur, answering every
suspicion with the sword and the fire-brand. If a suspected
Whig fled from his house to escape the insult, the scourge
or the rope, the myrmidons of Ferguson and Tarleton
burned it down, and ravished his wife and daughters ; if a
son refused to betray his parent, he was hung like a dog ;
if a wife refused to tell the hiding-place of her husband, her
belly was ripped open by the butcher-knife of the Tory ;
and to add double horror and infamy to the deep damna-
tion of such deeds, Americans were forced to be the instru-
ments for perpetrating them. That which Tarleton (beast,
murderer, hypocrite, ravisher as he was,) was ashamed to
do, he had done by Americans — -neighbors, kinsmen of his
victims. I draw no fancy picture — the truth is wilder far
than the fabulist's imagination can feign." \

Bancroft touchingly depicts the sad condition of the
people, where unchecked Toryism had borne sway : " The
sorrows of children and women," he says, " robbed and

* MS. Order preserved by General Preston,
f King's Mountain Address, October, 1855,49.

AND ITS HEROES. 331

wronged, shelterless, stripped of all clothes but those they
wore, nestling about fires they kindled on the ground, and
mourning for their fathers and husbands," were witnessed
on every hand ; and these helpless sufferers appealed to all
hearts for sympathy and protection. Colonel Campbell, on
the strength of the complaints made to him, was induced to
order the convening of a court, to examine fully into the
matter. The Carolina officers urged, that, if these men
should escape, exasperated, as they now were, in con-
sequence of their humiliating defeat, they would com-
mit other enormities worse than their former ones.*
The British leaders had, in a high-handed and summary
manner, hung not a few of the captured patriots at
Camden, and more recently at Ninety Six, and Augusta ;
and now that the Whigs had the means of retaliation at
their command, they began to consider whether it was
not their duty to exercise it ; thinking, probably, that it
would have a healthful influence upon the Loyalists — that
the disease of Toryism, in its worst aspects, was disastrous
in its effects, and heroic treatment had become necessary.

Colonel Shelby, with others, seems to have taken this
view of the subject. When the mountaineers " reached
Gilbert Town," says Shelby, " a week after the battle, they
were informed by a paroled officer, that he had seen eleven
patriots hung at Ninety Six a few days before, for being
Rebels. Similar cruel and unjustifiable acts had been
committed before. In the opinion of the patriots, it required
retaliatory measures to put a stop to these atrocities. A
copy of the law of North Carolina was obtained, which
authorized two magistrates to summon a jury, and forthwith
to try, and, if found guilty, to execute persons who had
violated its precepts." \ This law providing capital punish-
ment, must have had reference to those guilty of murder,
arson, house-breaking, riots, and other criminal offences.

♦Ensign Robert Campbell's King's Mountain narrative.
\ Shelby, in American Review, December, 1848.

332 KING'S MOUNTAIN

"Colonel Campbell," says Ensign Campbell, "complied,
and ordered a court-martial to sit immediately, composed of
the field officers and Captains, who were ordered to inquire
into the complaints which had been made. The court was
conducted orderly, and witnesses were called and examined
in each case — the consequence was, that thirty-two were
condemned." *

Under the law as cited by Colonel Shelby, while the
tribunal was, no doubt, practically, a court-martial, it was
nominally, at least, a civil court, with two presiding justices.
There was no difficulty on this point, for most of the
North Carolina officers were magistrates at home — Colonel
Cleveland, and four or five others, of the Wilkes regiment
alone filling that position. The jury was composed of
twelve officers — Lieutenant Allaire, in bis Diary, denouncing
it as " an infamous mock jury." " Under this law," says
Shelby, "thirty-six men were tried, and found guilty of
breaking open houses, killing the men, turning the women
and children out of doors, and burning the houses. The
trial was concluded late at night ; and the execution of the
law was as summary as the trial."

How much of the evidence, hurriedly adduced, was one-
sided and prejudiced, it is not possible at this late day to
determine. Colonel Ambrose Mills, the principal person
of those condemned, was a man of fair reputation, and
must have been regarded chiefly in the light of being a
proper and prominent character upon whom to exercise
retaliatory measures ; and yet it was necessary to make
some specific charge against him — the only one coming
down to us, is that related b}r Silas McBee, one of the
King's Mountain men under Colonel Williams, that Mills
had, on some former occasion, instigated the Cherokees to
desolate the frontier of South Carolina, which was very
likely without foundation. It was proven against Captain
Walter Gilkey, that he had called at the house of a Whig ;

■••Annals of the Army of Tennessee, 1878.

AND ITS HEROES. 333

and inquiring if he was at home, was informed by his son,
a youth, that he was absent, when the Tory Captain
immediately drew his pistol, discharged it, wounding the
lad in the arm, and taking his gun from him. Recovering
from his wound, this youth was now with the mountaineers,
and testified against his would-be murderer. Gilkey's aged
father was present, and offered in vain his horse, saddle and
bridle, and a hundred dollars in money, as a ransom for
his son.*

Another case somewhat similar to Gilkey's, was that of
John McFall, a noted Tory leader of Burke County. Head-
ing a party of mounted Loyalists, McFall dashed up to the
house of Martin Davenport, on John's river, hoping to
capture or kill him, as he was a prominent Whig, and had,
more than once, marched against the Tories, under Colonel
Cleveland and Major McDowell. But they failed to find
him, as he was absent in the service. The Tory band vented
their spleen and abuse on Mrs. Davenport, and directed her
to prepare breakfast for them ; and McFall ordered the lad,
William Davenport, then in his tenth year, to go to the corn
crib, procure some corn, and feed the horses in the trough
prepared for such use at the hitching post. After getting
their meal, and coming out to start off, McFall discovered
that the horses had not been fed, and asked the little fellow
roughly why he had not done as he had bidden him ? The
spirited little Rebel replied : " If you want your horses fed,
feed them yourself." Flying into a passion, McFall cut a
switch and whipped him smartly.

At the trial at BickerstafF's, when McFall's case was
reached, Major McDowell, as the proper representa-
tive of Burke County, whence the culprit hailed, was
called on to give his testimony ; when, not probably regard-
ing McFall's conduct as deserving of death, he was disposed

''Conversations with Silas McBee ; narrative of Ensign Robert Campbell; MS. corres-
pondence of W. L. Twitty, as related by the venerable John Gilkey, of Rutherford County,
N. C, in no way related to his Tory namesake.

334 KING >S MO UNTA1N

to be lenient towards him. Colonel Cleveland, who, it
would appear, was one of the presiding justices, had his
attention attracted from his paper, upon which he was mak-
ing some notes, by hearing McFall's name mentioned,
now spoke up — u That man, McFall, went to the house
of Martin Davenport, one of my best soldiers, when he
was away from home, fighting for his country, insulted his
wife, and whipped his child ; and no such man ought to
be allowed to live." * His fate was sealed by this revela-
tion ; but his brother, Arthur McFall, the old hunter of the
mountains, was saved through the kind intervention of Major
and Captain McDowell, believing, as he had been wounded
in the arm at King's Mountain, it would admonish him not
to be found in the future in bad company, f

Benjamin Sharp represents that the number of Tories
condemned to the gallows was upwards of forty, Thomas
Maxwell and Governor David Campbell say thirty-nine,
Shelby thirty-six, General Lenoir and Ensign Campbell
thirty-two, while Ramsey's Tennessee, Lieutenant Allaire,
Benjamin Starritt and others, give the number as thirty.
Starritt asserts that those upon whom sentence of death had
been pronounced, were divided into three classes of ten each

*MS. pension statement of Richard Ballew, of Knox County, Ky , formerly of Burke
County. N C ; MS. letters of Hon. J. C. Harper, and Captain W. W. Lenoir, who had
the particulars from William Davenport himself. Colonel Davenport was born in Culpeper
County, Virginia, October 12, 1770. His mother dying about the close of the Revolution
of small-pox, his father removed to the mountain region, on Toe river, in now Mitchell
County ; a hunter's paradise, where he could indulge himself in his favorite occupation
of hunting, and where his son William killed the last elk ever seen in North Carolina.
Colonel William Davenport became a man of prominence, representing Burke County in
the House of Commons in 1800, and in the Senate in 1802. He possessed an extraordinary
memory, was a most excellent man ; and was the chief founder of Davenport Female Col-
lege at Lenoir. He married the widow of Major Charles Gordon, one of the King's Moun-
tain heroes; and lived for many years in the Happy Valley of the Yadkin, three and a
half miles above Fort Defiance, where he died August 19, 1859, in the eighty-ninth year of
his age.

+ MS. correspondence of W. A. McCall, Esq., of McDowell County, N. C, who knew
Arthur McFall very well. He used to speak kindly of the McDowells befriending him,
and said that Colonel Cleveland had little mercy on Americans who were caught fighting
with the British. Arthur McFall spent most of his life as a hunter in the mountains,
making his home, when in the settlements, with old acquaintances. He was a man after
Daniel Boone's own heart ; and died about the year 1835, on Grassy Creek, at the venerable
age of between ninety and a hundred years.

AND ITS HEROES. 335

— Colonel Mills heading the first class, and James Crawford
the second class. It will be remembered that Crawford,
who lived at the head of French Broad river, belonged to
Sevier's regiment ; and while at " The Bald " of the Yellow
Mountain on their outward march, had enticed Samuel
Chambers, an inexperienced youth, to desert with him, and
they gave Ferguson information of the plans and approach
of the mountaineers. It is said, that when Ferguson had
taken post on King's Mountain, and a week had elapsed
since the renegades brought the report, that he had caused
Crawford to be tried and condemned for bringing false in-
telligence ; and the evening of the seventh of October had
been set for his execution. However this may have been,
Colonel Sevier interceded in Crawford's behalf, as he could
not bear to see his old neighbor and friend suffer an igno-
minious death, and had him pardoned. He subsequently
removed to Georgia. Young Chambers' guilt was excused
on account of his youthfulness. * Judged by the laws of
war, Crawford was a deserter ; and in view of the injury he
tried to inflict on the Whig cause, he as richly deserved the
halter as Andre', and doubtless much more than any of his
Tory associates.

As Abram Forney, one of the Lincoln troops, was sur-
veying the prisoners, through the guard surrounding them,
he discovered one of his neighbors, who only a short time
before King's Mountain battle, had been acting with the
Whigs ; but had been over-persuaded, by some of his Tory
acquaintances, to join the King's troops. Upon seeing him,
Forney exclaimed — " Is that you, Simon?" "Yes," he
replied, quickly, " it is, Abram, and I beg you to get me out
of this bull-pen ; if you do, I will promise never to be
caught in such a scrape again." When it was, accordingly,
made to appear on the day of trial, thathe had been unfortu-
nately wrought upon by some Tory neighbors, such a miti-
gation of his disloyalty was presented as to induce the court

* MS. notes of conversations with James and George W. Sevier, and Benjamin Starritt.

336 KING 'S MO UNTAIN

to overlook his offence, and set him at liberty. Soon after-
wards, true to his promise, he joined his former Whig
comrades, marched to the battle of Guilford, and made a
good soldier to the end of the war. *

So far as the evidence goes, Colonel Cleveland was
probably more active and determined than any other officer
in bringing about these severe measures ; though Colonel
Brandon, it was well known, was an inveterate hater of
Tories ; and Colonel Shelby seems to have aided in find-
ing a State law that would meet these cases. It is said
that Cleveland had previously threatened to hang certain
Tories whenever he could catch them ; f and Governor
Rutledge, shortly after this affair, ascribed to him the chief
merit of the execution of several " noted horse thieves and
Tories" taken at King's Mountain. \

The Southern country was then in a very critical condi-
tion, and there seemed to be a grave necessity for checking,
by stern and exemplary punishment, the Tory lawlessness
that largely over-spread the land, and impressing that
class with a proper sense of the power and determination
of the Whigs to protect their patriot friends, and punish
their guilty enemies. Referring to the action at Bicker-
staff's, Ensign Campbell well observes: " The officers on
that occasion acted from an honorable motive to do the
greatest good in their power for the public service, and to
check those enormities so frequently committed in the States
of North and South Carolina at that time, their distress
being almost unequalled in the annals of the American
Revolution." The historian, Bancroft, errs in supposing
that these executions were the work of lawless "private
soldiers." § The complaints against the Tory leaders were
made by the officers of the western arm}' from the two
Carolinas, and the court and jury were composed exclu-

* Hunter's Sketches, pp. 266-67.

■{•Gordon's American Revolution, iv., 466; Mrs. Warren's Revolution, ii, 252.

\ RusselVs Magazine, 1857, i, 543.

"g History of the United States, x, 339.

AND ITS HEROES. 337

sively of officers — and all was done under the form and
sanction of law.

While the jurist-historian, Johnson, could have wished
that the conquerors of Ferguson had been magnanimous,
and spared these miserable wretches from the gallows, yet
as an act of justice and public policy he vindicates their
conduct. Many severe animadversions, he observes, have
been showered on the brave men who fought at King's
Mountain for this instance of supposed severity. War, in
its mildest form, is so full of horrors, that the mind recoils
from vindicating any act that can, in the remotest degree,
increase its miseries. To these no act contributes more
than that of retaliation. Hence no act should be ventured
upon with more solemn deliberation, and none so proper to
be confined to a commander-in-chief, or the civil power.
But the brave men who fought in the affair at King's
Mountain, are not to be left loaded with unmerited censure.

The calmest and most dispassionate reflection upon
their conduct, on this occasion, will lead to the conviction,
that if they committed any offence, it was against their own
country — not against the enemy. That instead of being
instigated by a thirst of blood, they acted solely with a view
to put an end to its effusion ; and boldly, for this purpose,
took upon themselves all the dangers that a system of retalia-
tion could superinduce. The officers of the American army,
who, twelve months afterwards, hazarded their lives by
calling upon their General to avenge the death of Hayne,
justly challenge the gratitude and admiration of their
country ; but the men of King's Mountain (for it is avowed
as a popular act, and not that of their chief alone), merit
the additional reputation of having assumed on themselves
the entire responsibility, without wishing to involve the
regular army in their dangers. And this was done in the
plenitude of British triumph, and when not a man of them
could count on safety for an hour, in anything but his own
bravery and vigilance.

338 KING 'S MO UNTAIN

But what was the prospect before them? They were
all proscribed men ; the measures of Lord Cornwallis had
put them out of the protection of civilized warfare ; and the
spirit in which his proclamations and instructions were
executed by his officers, had put them out of the protection
of common humanity. The massacres at Camden had
occurred not six weeks before, and those of Browne, at
Augusta, scarcely half that time. Could they look on and
see this system of cruelty prosecuted, and not try the
only melancholy measure that could check it? The effect
proved that there was as much of reflection as of passion in
the act ; for the little despots who then held the country,
dared prosecute the measure no farther. Another and an
incontestible proof that blind revenge did not preside over
the counsels that consigned these men to death, is drawn
from the deliberation with which they were selected, and
the mildness manifested to the residue of the prisoners.

It has been before observed, that, in the ranks of Col-
onel Ferguson, there were many individuals notorious as
habitual plunderers and murderers. What was to be done
with these? There were no courts of justice to punish their
offences ;* and, to detain them as prisoners of war, was to
make them objects of exchange. Should such pests to
society be again enlarged, and suffered to renew their out-
rages? Capture in arms does not exempt the deserter from
the gallows; why should it the cold-blooded murderer?
There was no alternative left ; and the officers, with all the
attention to form that circumstances would permit, and
more — a great deal, it is believed — than either Browne or

* Such was the distraction of the times, that South Carolina, during the period of
1780-81, was without a civil government, Governor Rutledge having been compelled to
retire from the State, and the Lieutenant Governor and some of the Council were prisoners
of war. Nor during a portion of the war did North Carolina fare much better. At one
time, one of her high judicial officers, Samuel Spencer, could only execute the laws
against Tories with threats and attempted intimidation ; the Governor, at one period, was
captured and carried away. When Cornwallis invaded the State, the prominent officials
fled, carrying the public records to Washington County, Virginia, on the lower frontiers
of Holston, as a place of asylum and security, as is shown by a MS. letter of Colonel
Arthur Campbell to Hon. David Campbell, September 15, 1810.

AND ITS HEROES. 339

Cornwallis had exhibited, could only form a council, and
consign them to the fate that would have awaited them in
the regular administration of justice. *

It is but just and proper, in this connection, to give the
views of Colonel Shelby, one of the conspicuous actors in
this whole affair ; and he seems to justify it wholly as a
measure of retaliation : It is impossible, he observes, for
those who have not lived in its midst, to conceive of the
exasperation which prevails in a civil war. The execution,
therefore, of the nine Tories at [near] Gilbert Town, will,
by many persons, be considered an act of retaliation unnec-
essarily cruel. It was believed by those who were on the
ground to be both necessary and proper, for the purpose of
putting a stop to the execution of the patriots in the Caro-
linas by the Tories and British. The event proved the
justice of the expectation of the patriots. The execution of
the Tories did stop the execution of the Whigs. And it
may be remarked of this cruel and lamentable mode of
retaliation, that, whatever excuse and pretenses the Tories
may have had for their atrocities, the British officers, who
often ordered the execution of Whigs, had none. Their
training to arms, and military education, should have pre-
vented them from violating the rules of civilized warfare in
so essential a point. \

Early in the evening, the trials having been brought to
a conclusion, a suitable oak was selected, upon a projecting
limb of which the executions were to take place. It was
by the road side, near the camp, and is yet standing, known
in all that region as the Gallows Oak. Torch-lights were
procured, the condemned brought out, around whom the
troops formed four deep. It was a singular and interesting
night scene, the dark old woods illuminated with the wild
glare of hundreds of pine-knot torches ; and quite a number
of the Loyalist leaders of the Carolinas about to be launched

* Johnson's Life of Greene, i. pp. 309-11.

f Conversations with Governor SJtclby, in American Review, December, 1848.

340 KING 'S MO UNTAIN

into eternity. The names of the condemned Tories were —
Colonel Ambrose Mills, Captain James Chitwood, Captain
Wilson, Captain Walter Gilkey, Captain Grimes, Lieuten-
ant Lafferty, John McFall, John Bibby, and Augustine
Hobbs. They were swung off three at a time, and left
suspended at the place of execution. According to Lieuten-
ant Allaire's account, they died like soldiers — like martyrs,
in their own and friends' estimation. " These brave but un-
fortunate Loyalists," says Allaire, " with their latest breath
expressed their unutterable detestation of the Rebels, and
of their base and infamous proceedings ; and, as they were
being turned off, extolled their King and the British Gov-
ernment. Mills, Wilson and Chitwood died like Romans." *
Among the small party of Georgians who served in the
campaign, was the noted Captain Paddy Carr, heretofore
introduced to the reader. Devoid, as he was, of the finer
feelings of humanity, he was deeply interested in, and
greatly enjoyed these sickening executions. If there was

* Allaire's MS. Diary ; and his statements as given in the Scofs Magazine and Riving-
ton's Royal Gazette.

It may be well to give the authorities for the names of the Loyalist leaders who suffered
on this occasion. Lord Cornwallis, in his correspondence, names Colonel Mills, as do
several historians; Allaire gives the names of Captains Wilson and Chitwood; Gilkey
is referred to by Ensign Campbell, and specifically named by Silas McBee, and the vener-
able John Gilkey ; Captain Grimes is mentioned in Ramsey's Tennessee, and Putnam's
Middle Tennessee; McFall's name has been preserved by Richard Ballew, John Spelts,
and Arthur McFall — eye-witnesses, and his prior acts at Davenport's are related by Hon.
J. C Harper and Captain W. W. Lenoir, who derived them from William Davenport; the
names of Lafferty and Bibby have been communicated by W. L. Twitty, as the tradi-
tions of aged people of Rutherford County, N. C, where they, as well as Chitwood lived,
whose name is likewise preserved in the memories of the aged inhabitants of that region ;
and the name of Hobbs is alone remembered by Silas McBee.

Colonel Mills resided on Green river, in Rutherford County ; Captain Wilson, in the
Ninety Six region, South Carolina; Chitwood, Lafferty, Bibby, and probably Gilkey, in
Rutherford; McFall, in Burke County ; Hobbs most likely in South Carolina ; and Grimes
in East Tennessee, where he was a leader of a party of Tory horse-thieves and highway-
men, and where some of his band were taken and hung. He fled to escape summary pun-
ishment, but justice overtook him in the end. His bandit career in Tennessee is noticed
in Ramsey's History of that Slate, pp. 179, 243; and Putnam's Middle Tennessee, 58.

General DePeyster, in his able Address on King's Mountain, before the New York
Historical Society, January, 4, 1881, has inadvertently fallen into the error of including
Captain Oates as among those executed with Colonel Mills, citing Mrs. Warren's History
as authority. Lord Cornwallis, in his letter to General Smallwood, November, 10, 1780,
states that Captain Oates was taken by the Americans near the Pedee, in South Carolina,
and "lately put to death."

AND ITS HEROES. 341

anything he hated more than another, it was a Tory ; and,
it may be, much of his extreme bitterness grew out of the
fact, that he knew full well how intensely he, in turn, was
hated by the Loyalists. Pointing at the unfortunates, while
dangling in mid-air, Carr exclaimed : " Would to God
every tree in the wilderness bore such fruit as that !" *

After nine of the Loyalist leaders had been executed,
and three others were about to follow suit, an unexpected
incident occurred. Isaac Baldwin, one of these condemned
trio, had been a leader of a Tory gang in Burke County,
who had sacked many a house, stripping the unfortunate
occupants of food, beds and clothing ; and not unfrequently,
after tying them to trees, and whipping them severely,
would leave them in their helpless and gory condition to
their fate. While all eyes were directed to Baldwin and
his companions, pinioned, and awaiting the call of the exe-
cutioners, a brother of Baldwin's, a mere lad, approached,

*J. L. Gray's MS. statement; Rutherford Enquirer, May 24, 1859.

The Revolutionary war produced few characters so singular and so notorious as
Patrick Carr. He was by birth an Irishman, and settled in Georgia before the commence-
ment of the war. It is only in the latter part of the contest we are able to trace him. He
shared as a Captain under Cslonel Clarke in the heroic attack on Augusta, in September,
1780; then retired to the Caroiinas, and joined the mountaineers under Major Candler,
and fought at King's Mountain. The following month we find him under Sumter at Black-
stocks; in May, 1781, engaged in forays against British and Tory porties in Georgia, way-
laying and defeating them, extending little or no mercy to any of them. In November,

1781. when Major Jackson surprised the British post at Ogeechee, and its commander,
Johnson, was in the act of surrendering his sword to Jackson, Carr treacherously killed
Captain Goldsmith. Johnson and his associates, judging that no quarters would be given
them, inst?ntly sprang into their place of defence, and compelled the Americans to retire
with considerable loss. A notorious Tory by the name of Gunn had concerted a plan to
kill Colonel Twiggs, and subsequently fell into the Colonel's hands, when Carr insisted that
Gunn should be hung; but Twiggs, more humane, protected the prisoner from harm. In

1782, Carr was made a Major, and, in the spring and early summer, marched with a force
over the Altamaha, where he had two skirmishes with whitesand Indians. On one occasion,
Carr was praised for his bravery, when he replied that had not God given him too
merciful a heart he would have made a very good soldier. It is related that he killed
eighteen Tories on his way back from King's Mountain and Blackstocks to Georgia ; and
one hundred altogether during the war, with his own hands ! Certain it is, the Tories
stood in great awe of him. He was murdered, in August, 1802, in Jefferson County,
Georgia, where he long resided; and, it is said, the act was committed by descendants of
the Tories. In December following, the Jefferson County troop of Light Horse assembled
at his place of inteiment, Lieutenant Robinson delivering a brief eulogy, when the military
fired a volley over his grave. Though " a honey of a patriot, " Paddy Carr left a name

'' to other times,

Mixed with few virtues, and a thousand crimes."

342 KING 'S MO UNTAIN

apparently in sincere affection, to take his parting leave. He
threw his arms around his brother, and set up a most piteous
screaming and lamentation as if he would go into convul-
sions, or his heart would break of sorrow. While all were
witnessing this touching scene, the youth managed to cut
the cords confining his brother, who suddenly darted away,
breaking through the line of soldiers, and easily escaping
under cover of the darkness, into the surrounding forest.
Although he had to make his way through more than a
thousand of the best marksmen in the world, yet such was
the universal admiration or feeling on the occasion, that not
one would lift a hand to stop him, *

Whether the escape of Baldwin produced a softening
effect on the minds of the Whig leaders — any feelings of
forbearance towards the condemned survivors ; or whether,
so far as retaliation, or the hoped-for intimidating influence
on the Tories of the country, was concerned, it was thought
enough lives had been sacrificed, we are not informed.
Some of these men must have been tried within the scope of
the civil law, for crimes committed against society ; while
others must have been tried and condemned for violations
of the usages of war; f and yet, after all, the moral effect
would seem to have been the principal motive for these
cases of capital punishment.

Referring probably to the two companions of Baldwin
after he had effected his escape, we have this statement on
the authority of Colonel Shelby: " Three more were tied,
ready to be swung off. Shelby interfered, and proposed to

♦Conversations with John Spelts and Benjamin Starritt ; Memoir of Major Thomas
Young: Johnson's Life of General Greene, i. 310.

Baldwin made his way into his old region, in Burke County, where his father resided,
on Lower Creek of Catawba ; where some two weeks afterwards, he was espied in the
woods by some scouts who gave chase, and finally overtook him, one of the pursuers killing
him by a single blow over the head with his rifle. Some forty-five years after this tragedy,
a younger brother of Ike Baldwin —probably the one who had so successfully planned his
escape at Bickerstaff's— made three ineffectual attempts to kill the man who had brained
the Tory free-booter.

t Speech of General Alexander Smyth, in Congress, January 21, 1819, Niles' Register,
xv.. Supplement, 151.

AND ITS HEROES. 343

stop it. The other officers agreed ; and the three men who
supposed they had seen their last hour, were untied."* The
inference is, that the officers here referred to, who, with
Shelby, exercised the pardoning power, or " put a stop"
to further executions, were the presiding officers of the
court, in their character of justices, of whom Colonel Camp-
bell could hardly have been one, though a magistrate at
home, for the civil court was acting under the laws of
North Carolina ; and yet Ensign Campbell, in his narrative,
speaks of the trials having been conducted before a court-
martial, and adds, that, after the nine were executed, " the
others were pardoned by the commanding officer;" while
another eye-witness, Benjamin Sharp, states that "a court
was detailed," and after the nine were hung, " the rest
were reprieved by the commanding officer." Nor is the
language of the late Governor Campbell less explicit: "A
court-martial was ordered and organized to try many of the
Tory officers, charged by the officers of North and South
Carolina with many offences — such as murdering unoffend-
ing citizens not in arms, and without motive, save the brutal
one of destroying human life. Thirty-nine were found
guilty, nine of whom were executed, and thirty were par-
doned by the commanding officer." f Whether the surviv-
ors were pardoned by the court in its civil capacity, or by
the commanding officer at the instance of a court-martial,

'••American Review, December, 1848.

fMS. statement by Governor Campbell.

J This, however, was not the last of the Tory executions. A few days after King's
Mountain battle, while some young men of the surrounding country — Thomas Patterson,
who escaped while a prisoner, and fought so bravely in the action, is believed to have been
one of the party — were near the battle-ground, looking for horses in the range, they dis-
covered one of Ferguson's foragers, who was absent at the time of the engagement. They
concluded to capture him ; but on showing such an intention, they were surprised at his
pluck, in firing on them single-handed —the bullet whizzing close by them without harm.
The Tory then betook himself to his heels, but was soon overhauled, and, without much
ceremony, was suspended to the limb of a tree by means of one of the halters designed for
the horses His carcass was left hanging till it decayed, and dropped to the ground; while
the rope dangled from the limb for several years. So relates the venerable E. A. Patterson,
a grand-son of young Arthur Patterson, who, while a prisoner on King's Mountain, escaped

344 KING'S MO UNTAIN

One of the reprieved Tories, touched with a sense of the
obligation he was under for sparing his life, and perhaps
resolved thereafter to devote his energies to the Whig cause,
went to Colonel Shelby at two o'clock that night, and
made this revelation : " You have saved my life," said he,
" and I will tell you a secret. Tarleton will be here in the
morning — a woman has brought the news." * No doubt
intelligence came that Tarleton had been dispatched by
Lord Cornwallis with a strong force for the relief of Fergu-
son, if relief could be of any service ; but as to the par-
ticular time of his arrival, that was the merest guess-work,
and, with the Tories, the wish was father to the thought.
But the Whig leaders, on receiving this information, deeming
it prudent to run no risk, but to retire with their prisoners to
a place of safety, instantly aroused the camp, picking up
everything, sending the wounded into secret places in the
mountains, and making every preparation for an early start
in the morning, f They marched, according to Allaire's
Diary, at the early hour of five o'clock, on Sunday, the
fifteenth of October.

The poor Loyalist leaders had been left swinging from
the sturdy oak upon which they had been executed. No
sooner had the Whigs moved off, than Mrs. Martha Bicker-
staff, or Biggerstaff, the wife of Captain Aaron Bickerstaff
who had served under Ferguson, and been mortally
wounded at King's Mountain, with the assistance of an old
man who worked on the farm, cut down the nine dead
bodies. Eight of them were buried in a shallow trench,
some two feet deep ; while the remains of Captain Chitwood

during the battle; corroborated by the venerable Abraham Hardin. Colonel J. R.
Logan communicated Mr Patterson's tradition of the affair.

Mot long after the action at King's Mountain, a couple of Tories were caught ard
hung on an oak tree, near Sandy Plains Baptist Church, in the edge of Cleveland County
some four miles south-east of Flint Hill. Neither their names, nor the crimes with which
they were charged, have been preserved. The tree on which they were executed is still
standing, and like that at the Bickerstaff Red Chimneys, is known as the Gallows Oak; it
has been dead several years. This tradition has been communicated by the aged father of
Daniel D. Martin, of Rutherford County, and Colonel J. R. Logan.

♦Shelby's account in American Review.

•J- Shelby's account.

AND ITS HEROES. 345

were conveyed by some of his friends, on a plank, half a
mile away to Benjamin Bickerstaff's, where they were
interred on a hill still used as a grave-yard. About 1855,
a party of road-makers concluded to exhume the remains
of Colonel Mills and his companions, as the place of their
burial was well known. The graves of only four of the
number were opened, the bones soon crumbling on expo-
sure. Several articles were found in a very good state of
preservation — a butcher knife, a small brass chain about five
inches in length, evidently used in attaching a powder-horn
to a shot-bag, a thumb lancet, a large musket flint, a goose-
quill, with a wooden stopper, in which were three or four
brass pins. These articles, save the knife, and a portion
of the pins, are preserved by M. O. Dickerson, Esq., of
Rutherfordton. *

Shortly after marching from Bickerstaff's, rain began to
fall in torrents, and it never ceased the whole day. "In-
stead of halting," says Benjamin Sharp, "we rather mended
our pace in order to cross the Catawba river before it should
rise to intercept us." It was regarded as essential to get
out of Tarleton's reach, and hence the straining of every
nerve, and the exercise of every self-denial, to accomplish
so important an object. The sanguinary character of that
impetuous British cavalry officer, and the celerity of his
movements, as shown at Buford's defeat, at Monk's Corner,
and at Sumter's surprise at Fishing Creek, admonished
the Whig leaders of the enemy they might have to deal
with ; and impelled, on this occasion, by the hope of rescu-
ing several hundred British and Tory prisoners was very
naturally regarded by the patriots as a powerful incentive,
for Tarleton to push them to the utmost extremity, and play
cut and slash as usual — and hence the supposed necessity
of equal exertions on their part to avert so great a calamity.
It is not a little singular that, at this very moment, Corn-
wallis and Tarleton were retreating from Charlotte to

*MS. correspondence of W. L. Twitty and Mr Dickerson.

346 KING ' S MO UN TAIN

Winnsboro, South Carolina, with all their might and main —
" with much fatigue," says Lord Rawdon, ''occasioned by
violent rains ; " fearing that the " three thousand " reported
victorious mountaineers were in hot pursuit. " It was
amusing," said one of the King's Mountain men, "when
we learned the facts, how Lord Cornwallis was running in
fright in one direction, and we mountaineers as eagerly
fleeing in the other." *

In Allaire's newspaper narrative, we have this account
— whether colored or distorted, we have no means of
determining: " On the morning of the fifteenth, Colonel
Campbell had intelligence that Colonel Tarleton was
approaching him, when he gave orders to his men, that
should Tarleton come up with them, they were immediately
to fire on Captain DePeyster and his officers, who were in
the front, and then a second volley on the men. During
this day's march, the men were obliged to give thirty-five
Continental dollars for a single ear of Indian corn, and forty
for a drink of water, they not being allowed to drink when
fording a river ; in short, the whole of the Rebels' conduct
from the surrender of the party into their hands, is incredible
to relate. Several of the militia that were worn out with
fatigue, not being able to keep up, were cut down and
trodden to death in the mire."

It was about ten o'clock at night, according to Allaire's
Diary, and as late as two o'clock, according to Shelby, when
the wearied troops and prisoners reached the Catawba, at
the Island Ford, where the river was breast deep as they
forded it. They bivouacked on the western bank of the
river at the Quaker Meadows — the home of Major Mc-
Dowell. "A distance of thirty-two miles,'' says Allaire,
" was accomplished this day over a very disagreeable road,
all the men worn out with fatigue and fasting, the prisoners
having had no bread nor meat for two days " — and, appar-
ently, not even raw corn or pumpkins. Nor had the Whigs

♦MS. Notes of conversations with Silas McBee, in 1842.

OF THE
UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS

.-ifcs

mimm&m

^m:

<'■• ■

^/,

&w f3 Jsy //o-Pj&l/^i,

AND ITS HEROES. 347

fared any better, judging from the statement in the
American Review, dictated by Colonel Shelby: "As an
evidence of the hardships undergone by these brave and
hardy patriots, Colonel Shelby says that he ate nothing
from Saturday morning until after they encamped Sunday
night — [or rather Monday morning] — at two o'clock."
Benjamin Sharp throws additional light on the privations
of the patriots : "During the whole of this expedition,"
he states, "except a few days at our outset, I neither tasted
bread nor salt, and this was the case with nearly every man ;
when we could get meat, which was but seldom, we had to
roast and eat it without either ; sometimes we got a few
potatoes, but our standing and principal rations were ears
of corn, scorched in the fire or eaten raw. Such was
the price paid by the men of the Revolution for our
independence."

Here, at McDowell's, some provisions were obtained —
not much of a variety, but such as satisfied half-starved
men ; nor did they seek rest until they had dried themselves
by their camp fires, and enjoyed their simple repast.
" Major McDowell," says Sharp, "rode along the lines,
and informed us that the plantation belonged to him, and
kindly invited us to take rails from his fences, and make
fires to warm and dry us. I suppose that every one felt
grateful for this generous offer ; for it was rather cold, it
being the last of October, and every one, from the Com-
mander-in-chief to the meanest private, was as wet as if he
had just been dragged through the Catawba river."

It is evident from Allaire's Diary, that when it was pos-
sible, courtesies were extended to the British officers — even
when the Whig patriots themselves were camping out on
the ground. u We officers," he says, " were allowed to go
to Colonel McDowell's, where we lodged comfortably." A
little incident transpired on this occasion which the good
Lieutenant did not care, perhaps, to record in his Diary.
Some of these very same officers had visited the residence

348 KING 'S MO UNTAIN

of the McDowell's, under very different circumstances, the
preceding month, when Ferguson had invaded the Upper
Catawba Valley, and when the two brothers, Colonel
Charles and Major Joseph McDowell, had retired with their
little band across the mountains. Their widowed mother
was the presiding hostess of the old homestead at the
Quaker Meadows ; she was a woman of uncommon energy
and fearlessness of character — a native of the Emerald Isle.
She possessed a nice perception of right and wrong ; and,
withal, was not wanting in her share of quick temper
peculiar to her people.

Some of these visitors, having ransacked the house for
spoils, very coolly appropriated, among other things, the
best articles of clothing of her two noted Rebel sons ; and
took the occasion to tantalize the aged mother with what
would be the fate of her boys when they should catch them.
Charles should be killed out-right, but as for Joe, they
would first compel him, by way of humiliation, to plead on
his knees for his life, and then would slay him without
mercy. But these threats did not in the least intimidate
Mrs. McDowell ; but she talked back at them in her quaint,
effective Irish style, intimating that in the whirligigs of life,
they might, sooner or later, have a little begging to do for
themselves. The changed circumstances had been brought
about in one short month, quite as much, perhaps, to the
surprise of the good old lady, as to the proud officers of
Ferguson's Rangers. Now they appeared again, wet,
weary, and hungry ; but Mrs. McDowell readily recognized
them, and it required not a little kind persuasion on the
part of Major McDowell to induce his mother to give those
" thieving vagabond Tories," as she termed them, shelter,
food, and nourishment. But the appeals of her filial son, of
whom she was justly proud, coupled with the silent plea of
human beings in their needy, destitute condition, prevailed ;
and in her Christian charity, she returned good for evil.*

* Related by the lady of Ex-Governor Lewis E. Parsons, of Alabama, who derived it from
her mother, a daughter of Major Joseph McDowell, of Quaker Meadows.

AND ITS HEROES. 349

It was fortunate for the mountaineers that they had suc-
ceeded in crossing the Catawba so opportunely, for the next
morning they found it had risen so much as to be past
fording. This obstacle would naturally prevent, for some
time, all pursuit, if indeed any had been made. It was
now arranged that Colonel Lacey's men * should be per-
mitted to return to South Carolina, while most of Shelby's
and Sevier's regiments, with the footmen of the Virginians,
should take their home trail across the mountains. The
mounted men of Campbell's regiment, with the Wilkes and
Surry troops under Cleveland and Winston, and perhaps
McDowell's party, together with a few of Sevier's and
Shelby's young men who preferred to remain in the service,
and who had incorporated themselves into McDowell's
corps, now constituted the escort for the prisoners. Shelby
states, that after the several corps had retired at the Catawba,
there remained not more Whigs than they had prisoners to
maard — about five or six hundred.

The wounded Americans, who had been hid away in the
mountains when the troops marched so hurriedly from
BickerstafF 's, were soon brought forward ; and many of them
were left in Burke County, eight or ten miles above Burke
Court House, where Doctor Dobson, of that neighborhood,
had eighteen of them under his care at one time ; four of
whom were Wilkes and Surry County officers billeted at
a Mr. Mackey's. \

After a needful rest, and the return of fair weather, the
patriots proceeded at two o'clock on Monday afternoon,
October sixteenth, directing their course, by easy marches,
to the head of the Yadkin, and down the valley- of that
stream. Fording Upper creek, or the North branch of
the Catawba, and John's river, they encamped that night at
a Tory plantation, not very far beyond the latter stream.

While on the hurried and toilsome march from Bicker-

* Pension statements of William White of Lacey's regiment, and William Alexander
of Campbell's men.

"j" Lieutenant Newell's statement, 1823.

350 KING 'S MO UNTAIN

staff's to the Catawba, and especially during several hours of
the evening, amid rain and mud, it proved a favorable oppor-
tunity for many of the prisoners to give their guards the slip,
and effect their escape. Allaire says the number reached a
hundred. To put a stop to these numerous desertions, the
Whig leaders promulgated severe admonitions of the con-
sequences of any further attempts in that direction ; but
they did not effectually restrain the daring and adventurous.
Having marched fifteen miles during Tuesday, passing
through Happy Valley and over Warrior Mountain ; the
troops, with their prisoners, camped that evening at Captain
Hatt's plantation, not very far from Fort Defiance ; and,
during the night, three of the prisoners attempted to evade
their guards, two of them succeeding, while the other was
shot through the body, retaken, and executed at five o'clock
on the following morning. *

During Wednesday, the eighteenth, the troops forded
Elk and Warrior creeks, camping that night on the west-
ern bank of Moravian creek, a short distance west of
Wilkes Court House, having accomplished eighteen miles ;
and passing the next day through the Old Mulberry Fields,
or Wilkes Court House, they took up their camp at
Hagoods' plantation, on Brier creek, having marched six-
teen miles this day. While in camp, on Brier creek,
Colonel Campbell appears to have discharged some of his
Virginians, for he wrote a letter on the twentieth, to his
brother-in-law, Colonel Arthur Campbell, giving him a
brief account of the battle, but was uncertain as yet what
disposition would be made of the prisoners. Taking a late
start on Friday, six miles only were accomplished, camping
that night at Sales' plantation. Proceeding by slow
marches, they passed Salem, arriving at Bethabara, or Old
Town, on the twenty-fourth — both Moravian villages —
whose people, according to Allaire, were stanch friends
of the King, and were very kind to all the prisoners.

♦Allaire's MS. Diary. Capt. Hatt may possibly be designed for Capt. Holt or Hall.

AND ITS HEROES. 351

The very first night the British officers had been
assigned quarters at Bethabara, Lieutenant Allaire and
Doctor Johnson, who were rooming together, were driven
from their bed by a violent Whig Captain named Campbell,
who, with drawn sword, threatened them with death if they
did not instantly obey him. Colonel Campbell was notified
of this rudeness, who had the unseasonable intruder turned
out of the room ; * and this is but another instance of his
sense of justice towards helpless prisoners.

Among the Tory captives, was a notorious desperado
named Bob Powell. He was a man of unusual size, strong,
supple, and powerful. He boasted of his superior ability
and agility to out-hop, out-jump, out-wrestle, or out-fight
any Whig in the army. He seemed to possess a happier
faculty of getting into scrapes, than in getting out. Chained
with two accomplices for some bad conduct, he sent word
one morning that he wanted to see Colonels Campbell,
Shelby and Cleveland, on a matter of importance. When
waited on by those officers, he seemed to think that the
proposition he was about to submit was a matter of no small
consideration — no less than a challenge to wrestle or fight
with the best man they could produce from their army,
conditioned that, should he prove victor, his freedom should
be his reward ; should he fail, he would regard his life as
forfeited, and they might hang him. Though a couple of
guineas were offered to any man who would successfully
meet him — probably more with a view of an exhibition of
the " manly art," as then regarded by the frontier people,
yet no one saw fit to engage in the offered contest. Under
the circumstances, all knew full well that Powell would
fight with the desperation of a lion at bay ; and none cared
to run the risk of encountering a man of his herculean pro-
portions, with the stake of freedom to stimulate his efforts. f

It was apparently while at Bethabara, that Colonels

♦Allaire's MS Diary, and his newspaper narrative.

+ MS. notes of conversation with John Spelts, an eye-witness.

352 KING 'S MO UNTAIN

Campbell, Shelby, and Cleveland made out their official
report of King's Mountain battle. Had it been prepared
before Colonels Lacey and Sevier had retired at the Quaker
Meadows, the names of those two officers would doubtless
have been attached to it also.* Colonel Shelby accom-
panied the troops to Bethabara. He had been deputed
to visit General Gates at Hillsboro, to tender the services
of a corps of mountaineers, mostly refugees, under Major
McDowell, to serve under General Morgan. Colonel
Campbell also had occasion to repair to head-quarters to
make arrangements for the disposition of the prisoners.

On the twenty-sixth of October, Colonel Campbell issued
a General Order, appointing Colonel Cleveland to the
command of the troops and prisoners until his expected
return, especially providing that full rations be issued to the
prisoners ; adding, "it is to be hoped, no insult or violence
unmerited will be offered them ; no unnecessary injury be
done to the inhabitants, nor any liquor be sold or issued to
the troops without an order from the commanding officer." f
Here we have additional evidence, if any wTere needed,
of Campbell's humanity and good sense.

Colonels Campbell and Shelby had scarcely departed,
when new troubles arose in the treatment of the prisoners.
Allaire tells us, that one of the Whig soldiers was passing
the guard, where the captives were confined, when he rudely
accosted them: " Ah ! d — n you, you'll all be hanged!"
One of the prisoners retorted — " Never mind that, it will be
your turn next ! " For this trifling offence, the poor fellow

* Doctor Ramsey, in his History of Tennessee, states that the three Colonels visited
Hillsboro, and there made out their report. Colonel Cleveland did not go there on that
occasion, having been left in command at Bethabara. His name was signed to the report
by himself, and not by another, as a comparison of his genuine autograph with the/*r-
snnile signature to the report conclusively shows. Perhaps as a compliment, Colonel Cleve-
land was permitted to head the list, in signing the report, as shown in fac simile in
Lossing's Field Book of the Revolution ; but when General Gates sent a copy, November i,
1780, to Governor Jefferson, to forward to Congress, he very properly placed Campbell's
name first, Shelby's next, and Cleveland's last — and so they appear as published in the
gazettes at the time by order of Congress.

tMS, order, preserved by General Preston.

AND ITS HEROES. 353

was tried before Colonel Cleveland, and condemned to be
hung. Quite a number of people gathered at Bethabara to
witness the execution of the unfortunate man ; " but," adds
Allaire, "Colonel Cleveland's goodness extended so far as
to reprieve him."

About this time, Captain William Green and Lieutenant
William Langum, among the Tory prisoners, were tried
before Colonel Cleveland. The charge against Green
seems to have been, that he had violated the oath he had
taken as an officer to support the governments of the State
of North Carolina and of the United States, by accepting a
British commission, and fighting at King's Mountain. Some
of the British officers were present, and remonstrated at the
course taken, when Cleveland cut them short, saying :
"Gentlemen, you are British officers, and shall be treated
accordingly — therefore give your paroles and march off
immediately ; the other person is a subject of the State.'1 *
Green and Langum were condemned to be executed the
next morning. " May be so," coolly remarked Green.

That night, as he and his comrade, Langum, were lying
before the camp-fire, under a blanket, Green rolled over so
that his hands, fastened with buck-skin straps, came in con-
tact with Langum's face, who seeming to comprehend his
companion's intention, worked away with his teeth till he
succeeded in unfastening the knot. Green was now able
to reach his pocket, containing a knife, with which he
severed the remaining cords, and those of Langum. He
then whispered to Langum to be read)' to jump up and run
when he should set the example. Green was above the
ordinary size, strong and athletic. The guard who had
special watch of them, was in a sitting posture, with his
head resting upon his knees, and had fallen asleep. Mak-
nig a sudden leap, Green knocked the sentinel over, and
tried to snatch his gun from him ; but the latter caught the
skirt of the fleeing man's coat, and Green had to make a

* Gordon's American Revolution, iii, pp. 466-67.
23

354 KING ' 5 MO UNTAIN

second effort before he could release himself from the sol-
dier's grasp, and gladly got off with the loss of a part of his
garment. In another moment both Green and Langum
were dashing down a declivity, and though several shots
were fired at them, they escaped unhurt, and were soon
beyond the reach of their pursuers. Aided by the friendly
wilderness, and sympathizing Loyalists, they in time reached
their old region of Buffalo creek, in now Cleveland County,
Green at least renouncing his brief, sad experience in the
Tory service, joined the Whigs, and battled manfully there-
after for his country. Both Green and Langum long sur-
vived the war, and were very worthy people. *

Allaire records an incident, involving, if correctly reported,
rash treatment on the part of Colonel Cleveland towards
Doctor Johnson, whose benevolent acts, it would be sup-
posed, would have commanded the respectful attention of all :
"November the first," writes Lieutenant Allaire, "Doctor
Johnson was insulted and knocked down by Colonel Cleve-
land, for attempting to dress the wounds of a man whom
the Rebels had cut on the march. The Rebel officers
would often go in amongst the prisoners, draw their swords,
cut and wound whom their wicked and savage minds
prompted." \ There must have been something unex-
plained in Doctor Johnson's conduct — the motive is wanting
for an act so unofficer-like as that imputed to Colonel Cleve-
land. While it is conceded that he was a rough frontier
man, and particularly inimical to thieving and murderous
Tories, yet he was kind-hearted, and his sympathies
as responsive to misfortune as those of the tenderest
woman. The same day, Colonel Cleveland was relieved
of his command by Colonel Martin Armstrong, his superior

* MS. Deposition of Colonel Wm. Porter, 1814, kindly communicated by Hon. W. P.
Bynum ; MS. letters of Jonathan Hampton and Colonel J. R. Logan, the latter giving the
recollections of the venerable James Blanton, now eighty-two years of age, who was well
acquainted with both Green and Langum; statements of Benjamin Biggerstaff and J. W.
Green, furnished by W. L. Twitty. Some of the traditions represent Langum's name as
Lankford.

t Allaire's MS. Diary, and his newspaper narrative.

AND ITS HEROES. 355

in rank, as well as the local commandant of Surry County,
where the troops and prisoners then were.

The British officers had been expecting to be paroled.
Colonel Cleveland's remark to them, at Green's trial, would
seem to indicate the early anticipation of such an event.
" After we were in the Moravian town about a fortnight,*"
says Allaire, " we were told we could not get paroles to
return within the British lines ; neither were we to have any
till we were moved over the mountains in the back parts of
Virginia, where we were to live on hoe-cake and milk."
Large liberties had been accorded the officers, to enable
them to while away the tedium of captivity : so that they
sometimes visited the neighboring Moravian settlements, or
dined at their friends, in the country.

When Lieutenants Taylor, Stevenson, and Allaire
learned that there was no immediate prospect of their
receiving paroles, they concluded that they would " rather
trust the hand of fate," as Allaire states it in his narrative,
and make a desperate effort to reach their friends — taking
French leave of their American captors. Accordingly, on
Sunday evening, about six o'clock, the fifth of November,
they quietly decamped, taking Captain William Gist, of the
South Carolina Loyalists, with them; traveling fifteen
miles that night to the Yadkin, the fording of which they
found very disagreeable, and pushed on twenty miles
farther before daylight. Though pursued, the Whigs were
misled by false intelligence from Tory sources, and soon
gave up the chase.

Traveling by night, and resting by day ; sometimes
sleeping in fodder-houses, oftener in the woods ; with
snatches of food at times — hoe-cake and dried beef on one
occasion — supplied by sympathizing friends b}r the way ;
encountering cold rain storms, and fording streams ; guided
some of the weary journey by Loyalist pilots, and sometimes
following such directions as they could get ; passing over the
Brushy Mountain, crossing the Upper Catawba, thence over

356 KING 'S MO UNTAIN

the country to Camp's Ford of second Broad river, the
Island Ford of Main Broad, and the old Iron Works
of Pacolet ; barely escaping Sumter's corps at Black-
stock's on Tyger, they at length reached Ninety Six, the
eighteenth day after taking their leave of Bethabara,
traveling, as they accounted distance, three hundred miles.
These resolute adventurers suffered unspeakable fatigues
and privations, but successfully accomplished the object of
all their toils and self-denials. After resting a day at Ninety
Six, they pursued their journey to Charleston.

AND ITS HEROES. 357

CHAPTER XVI

October — December, 1780.

Disposition of King s Mountain Prisoners. — Proposition to Enlist them.
— Needed for Exchange. — Congress Refers the Matter to the States
where the Prisoners Belong. — How they Dwindled Away. — Colonel
Armstrong Blamed. — Remnant Confined at Salisbury. — DePeyster
and Ryerson Paroled. — A Plucky Band of Whigs Scare a large
Tory Party. — Tarleton Frustrates Cornwallis' Design of Relieving
Ferguson. — Intercepting Ferguson's Messengers. — Tarleton at
Length in Motion. — His Instructions. — Effect of Kings Mountain
Victory. — Ewin and Barry Alarm the Neutrals, and they Alarm
Cornwallis. — Crowing of David Knox. — Cornwallis flees to South
Carolina, with the Imaginary Mountaineers in Pursuit. — A Tricky
Guide Misleading ths Retiring Troops. — A Pomic. — Illness of Corn-
wallis.— Sickness and Fatality among the Troops. — Privations and
Sufferings of the Retrograders. — Aid Rendered by the Tories. —
Ninety Six Safe. — Cornwallis Threatens Retaliation for Execution
of Kings Momitain Prisoners. — Gates and, Randall on the Situa-
tion.— The Question Met by General Greene. — Cornwallis Drops the
Matter. — Case of Adam Cusack. — The Widows and Orphans of
Ninety Six District. — Good Words for King's Mountain Victory. —
Gates Thanks the Victors. — Washington Takes Courage. — Resolves
of Congress. — Greene and Lee Com?nend the Mountaineers. — Lossing,
Bancroft, and Irving on the Result. — The British Leaders Recognize
the Disastrous Effects of Ferguson s Miscarriage. — Gates and fef-
fersons Encomiums. — King's Mountain Paves the Way for York-
town and Independence.

General Gates, on the twelfth of October, at Hillsboro,
received the joyous intelligence of the victory of King's
Mountain ; and wrote the next day to Colonel William
Preston, near Fort Chiswell, or the Lead Mines, in the
Virginia Valley, appointing him to prepare barracks or
other works for the reception of the prisoners, and to take
the superintendency of them, believing that locality a safe

358 KING >S MO UNTAIN

quarter, and where the necessary supplies could be obtained
for their support. Colonel Preston assured General Gates
that the Lead Mines would be an unsafe place for the pris-
oners, as there were more Tories in that County, Montgom-
ery, than any other known to him in Virginia ; he urged,
besides, the further objection of its proximity to Surry and
other disaffected regions in North Carolina, and the inimi-
cal Cherokees to the south-west. He, therefore, suggested
the County of Botetourt, higher up the Valley, as more
suitable, and William Madison as a proper and younger
person to undertake the service.*

It would seem that General Gates balanced between two
modes of disposing of the prisoners — one, to place them
where they would be secure from rescue, " to be ready for
exchange for our valuable citizens in the enemy's hands ;"
the other, a suggestion of Colonel Campbell, to send them
to the North, and incorporate them with the army under
General Washington. Colonel Campbell was the bearer
of General Gates' dispatches on the subject to Governor
Jefferson, at Richmond, who finally referred the whole
matter to Congress. \ That body, on the twentieth of Nov-
ember, recommended to Governor Jefferson to cause the
King's Mountain prisoners to be secured in such manner
and places as he might judge proper : u That a list of the
names of the Tory prisoners be taken, distinguishing the
States, County or District to which they severally belong,
and transmitted to the Executives of their several States,
who are requested to take such order respecting them as the
public security, and the laws of the respective States may
require." \

But various circumstances combined to render all such
arrangements of no avail. Starting from King's Mountain
with not to exceed six hundred prisoners, they rapidly

*MS. letter of Gates to Preston, October 13, and of Preston to Gates, October 27, 1780;
Jefferson's Works, i, 273.

f MS. letter of Linnaeus Smith to General Francis Preston, July 19, 1823.
X Journals of Congress, 1780, vi, 374.

AND ITS HEROES. 359

dwindled away ; the paroles of some of them commenced
the second day after the battle ; * one hundred, Allaire tells
us, escaped during the march the stormy day, and part
of the night, before reaching the Quaker Meadows ; half a
dozen at another time ; Allaire and three associates escaping
as already related, and still later sixteen soldiers succeeded
in getting away from the guard at Bethabara, f while
doubtless many others evaded the vigilance of their guards
of which we have no record. According to the Moravian
accounts, there were never more than three hundred prison-
ers at Bethabara, fifty of whom were of Ferguson's
Provincial corps, and five hundred Whigs to guard them,
who remained at that place nineteen days, till all the
provisions were consumed. % Prior to the seventh of
November, one hundred and eighty-eight, who were inhabit-
ants of the western country of North Carolina, were taken
out of Colonel Armstrong's charge by the civil authorities,
and bound over, § inferentially for their appearance at court,
or for their good behavior; some were dismissed, some
paroled, but most of them enlisted — some in the three
months' militia service, others in the North Carolina
Continentals, and others still in the ten months' men under
Sumter. So evident was it to General Gates, that neither
the military nor civil officers of North Carolina had any
authority over these prisoners, many of whom had been
almost constantly in arms against their country since the
surrender of Charleston, that he remonstrated with the
State Board of War at Salisbury ; and Colonel Armstrong
was made to answer for the injury thus done to the
American cause. The remaining prisoners were then
marched under a strong guard to Hillsboro. ||

*MS. parole of Dennis McDuff by Captain George Ledbetter, October 9th, 1780,
preserved by Hon. W. P. Bynum.

f Colonel Armstrong to Gen. Gates, November nth, 1780, among the Gates Papers in
the New York Historical Society.

% Reichel's Moravians in North Carolina, pp. 92-93.

# Colonel Armstrong to Gen. Gafs, November 7th and nth, 1780.

|| Burk's History 0/ Virginia, iv, 410.

360 KING 'S MO UNTAIN

Including the Provincials, only about one hundred and
thirty captives remained ; and General Greene, when he
took the command of the Southern department, early in
December, lamented the loss of so many of the King's
Mountain prisoners, who, had they been retained, would
have been the means of restoring to the service many a noble
soldier languishing in British prisons ; nor was he without
suspicions of something more than folly on the part of those
who had taken such liberties to dispose of them. * The
jail and a log house near it, at Salisbury, were ordered by
General Greene to be picketed in, for the reception of the
remaining prisoners, who were directed to erect huts within
the pickets, \ for their use as cooking and sleeping apart-
ments. " The North Carolina government," wrote Colonel
Henry Lee to General Wayne, January seventh, 1781,
"has in a great degree baffled the fruits of that victory.
The Tories captured were enlisted into the militia or draft
service, and have all rejoined the British ; I heard General
Greene say, yesterday, that his last return made out sixty in
jail, and his intelligence from the enemy declares that two
hundred of them were actually in arms against us. ''J In
February ensuing, Captains DePeyster and Ryerson were
paroled to Charleston, and found on their arrival that they
were already exchanged. §

A singular incident occurred, in connection with the
King's Mountain campaign, that shows what, with pluck
and bravery, a few fearless men may accomplish. Fergu-
son, it will be remembered, had foraging, and perhaps
recruiting, parties out — under Colonel John Moore, Major
Zachariah Gibbs, and, very likely, others. One of these
parties, estimated at above two hundred and fifty, though
probably not so numerous, encamped a night or two pre-

* Greene to Washington, December 7th, 1780.
f Greene's Life of Greene, iii, pp. 78-79.

\ Life of Gen. Henry Lee, by R. E. Lee, perfixed to Lee's Memoirs, revised edition.
1872, p. 33.

§ Captain Ryerson's statement in the Royal Gazette, Charleston, October 27th, 1781.

AND ITS HEROES. 361

ceding the battle, at a school-house, near Holhngsworth's
mill, on Brown's creek, in now Union County, South
Carolina, some twenty-five miles south of King's Mountain.
Their camp was on a high hill, thickly covered with timber.

A small party of eight or ten Whigs, who were lurking
about the thickets along Brown's creek, with a view of
gaining intelligence concerning both friends and foes,
chanced to capture a solitary Tory, from whom they
learned of the design of this large party of foragers to biv-
ouac that night at the school-house near Hollingsworth's.
Ready for adventure, the plucky Whigs, though so few in
number compared with their adversaries, thought they might
gain by strategy what they could not accomplish by main
strength ; and concluded to make an effort to give the Tory
camp, at least, a first-rate scare. They accordingly arranged
their plan of proceedings, which was natural and simple.
Some time after dark they approached the enemy's camp —
spread themselves in open order, around the hill, at some
distance from each other, with the understanding that they
would advance till hailed by the sentinels, then lie down till
the guards fired, when they would arise and rush towards
the camp, firing and shouting as best they could.

They moved forward with great caution. The Tory
camp-fires threw a glaring light towards the canopy of
heaven, and lit up the forest far and near. All was joy and
gladness in the camp. The jovial song, and merry laugh,
indicated to the approaching Whigs that good cheer
abounded in the camp among the friends of King George.
In a moment all this was suddenly changed — the sentinels
hailed — then they fired, when an unseen foe rushed on
through the woods, yelling and screaming at the top of
their voices — and bang ! bang ! belched forth their rifles in
quick succession. The poor Tories were taken completely
by surprise — a panic ensued ; and crying "mercy ! mercy ! "
they dashed through the bushes down the hill at their very
best speed. A frightened Tory was proverbially famous in
such a race.

362 KING 'S MO UNTAIN

The victorious Whigs came into the camp one after
another, and peered into the darkness, but could only hear
the retreating foragers darting through the woods ; the noise
growing fainter at each successive moment ; while the
skedaddlers, poor souls, were congratulating themselves on
their fortunate escape from a formidable party of Rebels, led
on, it might be, by the untiring Sumter, or such a Tory-hater
as Tom Brandon, of Fair Forest. The Whigs had now
gained full possession of the camp, with none to dispute
their victory. Forage wagons were standing hither and
thither, horses hitched to them and to the surrounding trees,
guns stacked, cooking utensils lying about the fires, with
hats, caps, and articles of clothing scattered in wild
confusion.

Till the grey twilight streaked the eastern sky on the
following morning, the little patriot band kept close guard,
expecting the momentary return of the campers ; but
nothing of the kind transpired. The sun rose brightly, and
mounted high above the hills, and still no report from the
fugitives. What should be done with the horses, arms,
baggage and baggage- wagons, was now discussed by the
fearless captors. They transported them from the camp,
around the hill to a secluded spot, and maintained a strict
watch over their new quarters, and the property they had
so adroitly captured. It must have been the day succeed-
ing Ferguson's defeat, that one of the men on guard
discovered a party of a dozen or fifteen horsemen rapidly
approaching. It was thought to be the van of an army —
perhaps Ferguson's — coming to recover the spoils ; but the
brave Whigs who had made the successful capture, and
had guarded the plunder with so much vigilance, resolved
to test the matter.

They boldly advanced in a body, hailed the vanguard,
while their horses were drinking at the creek. But the
horsemen responded only by a confused flight ; and upon
them the patriots discharged their rifles, which disabled

AND ITS HEROES. 363

one of their horses, so that his rider surrendered in dismay.
From him the Whigs learned that his party was just from
King's Mountain — probably the band who had returned
from a foray, and fired upon the mountaineers at the close of
the action, mortally wounding Colonel Williams — and were
now making the best of their way to their respective homes,
or to Ninety Six, having in view no other object than their
personal safety. Learning of Ferguson's total defeat, the
Whig heroes now ventured to leave their secluded camp,
and gather a party to convey away the spoils of war to a
place of safety, where they and their friends could divide
and enjoy them. *

Lord Cornwallis' fine schemes of North Carolina and
Virginia conquest, were destined to a speedy disappoint-
ment. Awaiting at Charlotte, for the reception of supplies,
and the return of the healthful season, to prosecute his
military enterprise, he had reluctantly yielded to the per-
suasions of Colonel Ferguson to make an excursion into the
western borders of North Carolina, to encourage the friends
of the Government in that quarter. Though Ferguson
gave Cornwallis the assurance that his trained militia could
be trusted, yet his Lordship had serious doubts on that head,
declaring that Ferguson's " own experience, as well as that
of every other officer, was totally against him ;" but, in con-
sequence of Ferguson's entreaties, backed with the earnest
advice of Colonel Tarleton, the expedition was undertaken,
Ferguson promising to return should he hear of any superior
force approaching him.

Cornwallis, failing for some time to receive any definite
information from Ferguson, evidently commenced to feel
anxious concerning his situation. In the Virginia Gazette,
of October eleventh, 1780, we find among the latest items of
intelligence from the southward, one to the effect that " on
the thirtieth of September, about eight hundred of the enemy,
with two field pieces, were on their march, three miles in

*Saye's Memoir of Mcjunkin.

364 KING 'S MO UNTAIN

advance from Charlotte, on the road leading to Beattie's
Ford, on Catawba river, supposed to be intended to support
Major Ferguson, who was, with a party, in the neighbor-
hood of Burke Court House."

If a relief force was sent at all, it was not pushed far
enough forward to accomplish the purpose. Tarleton's ill-
ness of a fever — yellow fever, as Major Hanger terms it —
may have caused procrastination. " Tarleton is better,"
wrote Lord Cornwallis to Ferguson on the twenty-third of
September. As he recovered, he was pressed to engage in
this service, but found excuses for not undertaking it. " My
not sending relief to Ferguson," observed Lord Cornwallis,
" although he was positively ordered to retire, was entirely
owing to Tarleton himself; he pleaded weakness from the
remains of a fever, and refused to make the attempt,
although I used the most earnest entreaties." *

Tarleton informs us, that the County of Mecklenburg, in
which Charlotte was situated, and the adjoining County of
Rowan, were more hostile to England than any other por-
tion of America ; that so vigilant were the Whig troops and
people of that region, that " very few, out of a great number
of messengers, could reach Charlotte, in the beginning of
October, to give intelligence of Ferguson's situation." At
length Cornwallis received confused reports of Ferguson's
miscarriage. He dispatched Tarleton on the tenth of that
month, with his Light Infantry, the British Legion, and a
three-pounder, to go to the assistance of Ferguson, as no
certain intelligence had arrived of his defeat ; though it
was rumored, with much confidence, by the Americans in
the neighborhood of Charlotte. Tarleton's instructions
were to re-inforce Ferguson wherever he could find him,
and to draw his corps to the Catawba, if, after the junction,
advantage could not be obtained over the mountaineers ; or,
upon the certainty of his defeat, at all events to oppose the
entrance of the victorious Americans into South Carolina —

♦Cornwallis' Correspondence % i, 59.

AND ITS HEROES. 365

fearing they might seriously threaten Ninety Six and
Augusta.*

The effect of King's Mountain battle on the Tories of
the country, and on Lord Cornwallis and his officers at
Charlotte, may be best inferred from actual facts explana-
tory of the matter. Robert Henry, who had been so pain-
fully transfixed in a British charge on Chronicle's men, was
conveyed to his home on the South Fork, a few miles of
the way on Saturday evening after the battle, and the
remainder on Sunday, Hugh Ewin and Andrew Barry, two
of his brave companions, acting as his escort. On Monday
morning these two friends came to see him, and learned the
happy effects of a poultice of wet, warm ashes, applied to
his wounds by his good mother. While there, several
neutrals, as they termed themselves, but really Tories in
disguise, called to learn the news of the battle, when the
following dialogue took place between them and Ewin and
Barry :

" Is it certain," inquired one of the Tories, "that Colonel
Ferguson is really killed, and his army defeated and taken
prisoners?"

" Yes, it is certain," replied the Whigs, " for we saw
Ferguson after he was dead, and his army prisoners of
war."

" How many men had Ferguson?"

" Nearly, but not quite, twelve hundred," was the reply.

"Where," asked the Tories, "did the Whigs get men
enough to defeat him?"

"They had," responded the patriots, " the South Carolina
and Georgia refugees, Colonel Graham's Lincoln County
men, some from Virginia, some from the head of the Yad-
kin, some from the head of the Catawba, some from over
the mountains, and some pretty much from everywhere."

"Tell us," eagerly inquired the neutrals, "how it hap-
pened, and all about it."

* Tarlcton's Campaigns, pp. 160, i6x, 165.

366 KING 'S MO UNTAIN

" Well," said Ewin and Barry, "we met near Gilbert
Town, and found that the foot troops could not overtake Fer-
guson, and we took between six and seven hundred horse-
men, leaving as many or more footmen to follow ; and we
overtook Ferguson at King's Mountain, where we sur-
rounded and defeated him.''

"Ah!" said one of the Tories, "that will not do —
between six and seven hundred surrounding nearly twelve
hundred. It would have taken more than two thousand to
surround and take Colonel Ferguson."

" But," responded the Whigs, "we were all of us blue
hens' chickens — real fighters, and no mistake."

"There must have been," said the Tories, "of your
foot and horse over four thousand in all. We see what you
are about — that your aim is to catch Lord Cornwallis
napping."

Thus ended the dialogue, not more than two hours after
sunrise on Monday, the ninth of October ; and the neutrals
or Tories quickly took their departure. It was reported
that they immediately swam a horse across the swollen
Catawba, by the side of a canoe, and hastened to give Lord
Cornwallis the earliest news of Ferguson's defeat.

As soon as the intelligence reached Charlotte, it produced
a great excitement among all classes.

"Have you heard the news," inquired one officer, of
the guard?

" No, what news ?"

"Why," said the first, " Colonel Ferguson is killed, and
his whole army defeated and taken prisoners."

" How can that be," said the doubter — " where did the
men come from to accomplish such a feat?"

"Some of them," replied the man of news, "were
South Carolina and Georgia refugees, some from Virginia,
some from the heads of the Yadkin and Catawba, some from
over the mountains, and some from everywhere. They
met at or near Gilbert Town, about two thousand despera-

AND ITS HEROES. 367

does on horseback, calling themselve blue hens' chickens ;
and started in pursuit of Ferguson, leaving as many foot-
men to follow. They overtook Ferguson at a place called
King's Mountain, where they surrounded his army, killed
that gallant officer, defeated his men, and took the survivors
prisoners."

" Can this be true?" despondingly inquired the first
officer.

"As true as the gospel," replied the other; " and we
may look out for breakers."

" God bless us ! " ejaculated the dejected officer of the
guard.

David Knox, a kinsman of President Polk, who was a
prisoner, but enjoyed the privilege of the town, a man full
of fun and frolic, hearing this colloquy, jumped upon a pile
of fire-wood beside the street, slapped his hands and thighs,
and crowed like a rooster, exclaiming, Day is at hand! *

It was accounts like these, largely colored and exagger-
ated by the fear-stricken Tories, that reached Cornwallis'
ears, and so alarmed him that he sent out Tarleton to aid
Ferguson, if yet in a condition .to be relieved, and finally
induced his Lordship to depart in hot haste from Charlotte,
with all his army. Tarleton proceeded a south-westerly
course, fifteen or twenty miles, to Smith's Ford, below the
Forks of the Catawba, where he received certain intelli-
gence of the melancholy fate of Ferguson, and crossed the
river "to give protection" as he says, "to the fugitives," —
a small number of whom, he adds, his light troops picked
up, all of which must have been the result of his vivid
imagination.

At length, while Tarleton was absent, Cornwallis re-
ceived definite information of Ferguson's downfall ; and
Tarleton gives a sombre picture of the unhappy influence
it exerted upon both the British and Tories. "Added,"

*MS. narrative of Robert Henry, who heard the dialogue between the neutrals and
Ewin and Barry, and had the particulars of the interview of the British officers, from David
Knox himself.

368 KING'S MO UNTAIN

he says, " to the depression and fear it communicated to the
Loyalists upon the borders, and to the southward, the effect
of such an important event was sensibly felt by Lord
Cornwallis at Charlotte Town. The weakness of his army,
the extent and poverty of North Carolina, the want of
knowledge of his enemy's designs, and the total ruin of his
militia, presented a gloomy prospect at the commencement
of the campaign. A farther progress by the route which
he had undertaken, could not possibly remove, but would
undoubtedly increase his difficulties ; he, therefore, formed
a sudden determination to quit Charlotte Town, and pass
the Catawba river. The army was ordered to move, and
expresses were dispatched to recall Lieutenant-Colonel
Tarleton." *

About sunset, on the evening of the fourteenth of Octo-
ber, the British army took up its line of march towards
the Old Nation Ford on the Catawba. They had for a
guide William McCafferty, an Irishman, who had for
several years been a merchant at Charlotte ; remaining
there when the enemy came, endeavoring to save his
property ; but whatever were his professions to the British,
he played his new friends a sharp trick — a shabby one, no
doubt, in their estimation. About two miles below Char-
lotte, he led them on a wrong road towards Park's, since
Barnett's mill ; he at length suggested that they must be
out of the way, and he would ride a little to the left to get
righted ; but as soon as out of their sight, he left them to
their fate. They were two miles to the right of the road they
intended to have taken — the night was dark, and, being
near Cedar creek, they were intercepted by high hills and
deep ravines. Endeavoring to file to the left, to regain the
right road, they became separated into different parties,
and kept up a hallooing to learn which way their comrades
had gone. By midnight they were three or four miles
apart, and appeared to be panic-struck, lest the Americans

*Tarleton's Campaigns, 166.

AND ITS HEROES. 369

— the dreaded mountaineers — should come upon them in
their pitiful situation. They did not get together until noon
the next day, about seven miles from Charlotte. Owing to
the difficult passes they took, and the darkness of the
night, together with the scare that befell them, the rear
guard left behind them near twenty wagons, says Tarleton
— forty, says General Graham — and considerable booty,
including a printing press and other stores, together with the
baggage of Tarleton's Legion.*

Reaching the Old Nation Ford, the river was too high
to cross with safety. In consequence of a dangerous fever,
which suddenly attacked Lord Cornwallis, as the result of
heavy rains and severe exposures, and the want of forage
and provisions, the army remained two days in an anxious
and miserable situation in the Catawba Indian settlement,
until his physicians declared that his Lordship's condition
would endure the motion of a wagon. Meanwhile, the
treacherous pilot, McCafferty, had hastened to the Whig
Colonel Davie's encampment, reaching there early in
the morning, and communicating the tidings of the
enemy's retreat. Davie, with his small squadron of
cavalry, hung upon their rear and flanks, but could
gain no advantage over them. Crossing the Catawba
near Twelve Mile creek, the army at length reached
Winnsboro, a distance of some seventy miles, on the
twenty-ninth of the month, after a two weeks' march ;
encountering sickness, difficulties,, and privations of the
most serious character.

Major Hanger relates, that he and five other officers had
the yellow fever, as he terms it, and were placed in wagons
when the army evacuated Charlotte ; that, in passing
swollen streams, the straw on which they lay in the
vehicles frequently became wet, which aggravated their
sickness, and all, save himself only, died of fatigue and

* General Graham's Revolutionary History of North Carolina, in North Carolina
University Magazine, April, 1856, pp. 101-2 ; Tarleton's Campaigns, 167
24

370 KING ' S MO UNTAIN

exposure during the first week of the march, and were
buried in the woods, while the jaded troops were moving
forward as rapidly as possible. So low was Major Hanger
reduced, that his bones protruded through his skin, and his
life was only saved by the use of opium and port wine.*

But for their Tory associates, the sufferings of the army,
great as they were, would have been still more aggravated.
For several days in succession it rained without inter-
mission ; the soldiers had no tents, and the roads were over
their shoes in water and mud. At night the army en-
camped in the woods, in a most unhealthy climate, and for
many days, Stedman adds, they were entirely without rum.
The water they drank was frequently as thick as in puddles
by the road side. Sometimes they had beef and no bread ;
at other times bread, or corn, and no beef. For five days
the troops were supported upon Indian corn alone, which
was gathered as it stood in the field, five ears of which
were the allowance for two soldiers for twenty four hours.
The Tory militia taught the regulars how best to adapt it for
use. Taking their tin canteens, they would cut them up, and
punch holes through the strips with their bayonets, and then
use them as a rasp, or grater, on which to grate their corn,
and prepare it for cooking. The idea was communicated
to the Adjutant-General, and afterwards adopted through-
out the army, f

By their acquaintance with the country, being mounted
on horseback, and inured to the climate, the Tory militia
would go forth daily inquest of provisions, being frequently
obliged to pass through rivers, creeks, woods and swamps,
to secure beef cattle for the support of the army. "With-
out their assistance," says Stedman, u it would have been
impossible to have supplied the troops in the field."
Some of these men, when a creek was reached, difficult,
from its steep banks, and its clayey, slippery soil, to cross,

* Life of Hanger, ii, pp. 408-11.
t Stedman's American War, ii, 224

AND ITS HEROES. 371

would take the place of the horses, being harnessed in their
stead, and drag the wagons through the stream. Sted-
man, one of Cornwallis' officers, gives us some inklings of
the treatment of these Tory benefactors of their army, by
the British officers : " We are sorry to say," observes this
candid historian, " that in return for these exertions, the
militia were maltreated by abusive language, and even beaten
by some officers in the Quarter-Master General's depart-
ment. In consequence of this ill usage, several of them
left the army the next morning forever, choosing to run
the risk of meeting the resentment of their enemies, rather
than submit to the derision and abuse of those to whom the}r
looked up as friends.*

Cornwallis, with his army, was now at Winnsboro,
nearly midway between Camden and Ninety Six, and
within supporting distance of either. According to Lord
Rawdon, the second in command, it is evident that the
British leaders were happy, after all their toils and sufferings,
to find that " Ninety Six was safe " f — that the much-
dreaded mountaineers had fortunately turned their faces
northwardly, instead of towards the fortress where Cruger
commanded, and which they might easily have reached
long before it could possibly have been relieved by the
storm, mud, and sick-bound army en route from Charlotte to
Winnsboro.

Through the Tories, doubtless, Lord Cornwallis learned
in time of the executions by the mountaineers of the Loyal-
ists at Bickerstaff's, near Gilbert Town, and wrote to the
American commanders threatening retaliation. General
Gates, in transmitting these complaints to Congress,
expressed the opinion that " no person ought to be executed,
but after legal conviction, and by order of the supreme civil
or military authority, in the department where the offence
is committed ; but I must confess my astonishment at Lord

•Stedman, ii, 225.

f Cornwallis' Correspondence, i, 496.

372 KING'S MOUNTAIN

Cornwallis' finding fault with a cruelty he and his officers
are constantly practising — this is crying rogue first."

Commenting on this passage, Henry S. Randall pertin-
ently observes: " Supreme civil or military authority " was
not much better than a name, in the locality and exigency ;
and was quite as well represented, in our judgment, as it
could elsewhere have been, in the intelligent and respon-
sible gentlemen — for emphatically they were such — who,
by their own danger and exertions, had done what no
formally constituted " authority" was able to do; and, if
the victors of King's Mountain hung fewer men than the
documents found on British officers clearly proved had
been executed of Americans by their orders, they enforced
less, we believe, than the full measure of rightful and
proper retaliation. i\nd there is not a doubt that the prac-
tical effect of the measure was good, not only on the British
Li euten ant-General, but on the parricides who were so keen
to scent out, among their countrymen, the breakers of
enforced and withdrawn paroles. The hunt became less
intently amusing, when it was understood that the hunter
placed the noose that had strangled his victim, around his
own neck, in the event of his capture. *

The threatened retaliation by Cornwallis, addressed in
the first instance to General Smallwood, and then to Gen-
eral Gates, was left as a legacy for General Greene, on his
succeeding Gates in the command of the Southern depart-
ment ; and he met it in a calm and dignified manner. " I
am," he wrote to his Lordship, " too much a stranger to the
transactions at Gilbert Town to reply fully to that subject.
They must have been committed before my arrival in the
department, and by persons under the character of volun-
teers, who were independent of the army. However, if
there was anything done in that affair contrary to the prin-
ciples of humanity and the law of nations, and for which
they had not the conduct of your army as a precedent, I
shall be ever ready to testify my disapprobation of it. The

* Life of Jefferson, i, 282.

AND ITS HEROES. 373

first example was furnished on your part, as appears by the
list of unhappy sufferers enclosed ; and it might have been
expected, that the friends of the unfortunate should follow
it. Punishing capitally for a breach of military parole, is
a severity that the principles of modern war will not author-
ize, unless the inhabitants are to be treated as a conquered
people, and subject to all the rigor of military government.
The feelings of mankind will forever decide, when the
rights of humanity are invaded. I leave them to judge of
the tendency of your Lordship's order to Lieutenant-Col-
onel Balfour after the action near Camden, of Lord
Rawden's proclamation and of Tarleton's laying waste the
country, and distressing the inhabitants, who were taught
to expect protection and security, if they observed but a
neutrality. Sending the inhabitants of Charleston to St.
Augustine, contrary to the articles of capitulation, is a
violation which I have also to represent, and which I hope
your Lordship will think yourself bound to redress/'

The enclosed list referred to was this : " William Stroud
and Mr. Dowell, executed near Rocky Mount, without a
trial, by order of Lieutent-Colonel Turnbull ; Richard
Tucker, Samuel Andrews, and John Miles, hanged at
Camden by order of Lord Cornwallis ; Mr. Johnson, hanged
since the action of Blackstocks, by Lieutenant-Colonel
Tarleton ; about thirty persons hanged at Augusta by
Colonel Browne ; Adam Cusick hanged at Pedee by one
Colonel Mills."*

* Gordon's American War, iv, pp. 28-29.

The Colonel Mills here referred to, must not be confounded with Colonel Ambrose
Mills, of King's Mountain memory, one of the unfortunates executed at Bickerstaff ' s.
William Henry Mills, mentioned by General Greene, belonged in the Cheraw region, and
served in the South Carolina Provincial Congress, early in the contest; but subsequently
joined the British, and was made a Colonel. Surviving the war, he retired to Jamaica, and
then to England, where he died in 1807.

But from Judge James' Life of Marion, and Gregg's History of the Cheraws, it is very
questionable if Colonel Mills was responsible for the execution of Cusack. Those well-
ii. formed writers clearly charge that act upon Colonel Wemyss. Cusack was accused,
according to one account, of no other crime than refusing to transport some British officers
over a ferry, and shooting at them across the river ; while another statement has it, that he
shot at the black servant of a Tory officer, John Brockington, whom he knew, across Black
creek. Taken prisoner by the enemy, he was tried, and condemned on the evidence of
the negro.

374 KING '£ MO UNTAIN

Here happily ended the threatened retaliation on the
part of Lord Cornwallis for the execution of the Loyalist
leaders taken at King's Mountain. It was well that his
Lordship refrained from exercising a power that could only
have fanned the flames of desolation throughout the south-
ern borders. The inhumanities practiced on both sides in
that distracted quarter were already but too deplorable in
their character, and needed not fresh provocations to inten-
sify their brutality, or add to the frequency of their
occurrence. It was generally said, and believed, that in
the district of Ninety Six alone, fourteen hundred unhappy
widows and orphans were left to bemoan the fate of their
unfortunate fathers, husbands and brothers, killed and mur-
dered during the course of the war. *

Good words for the victory and victors of King's Moun-
tain have not been wanting. General Gates returned thanks,
through Colonel Campbell and his associates, " to the brave
officers and soldiers under your command, for your and
their glorious behavior in the action ; the records of the
war will transmit your names and theirs to posterity, with
the highest honors and applause ; " and he desired to
express the sense he entertained of " the great service they
had done their country." General Washington proclaimed
the result in General Orders to the army, as " an import-
ant object gained," and "■ a proof of the spirit and resources
of the country ; " while Congress expressed in its resolves,
" a high sense of the spirited and military conduct of
Colonel Campbell, and the officers and privates of the
militia under his command, displayed in the action of
October seventh, in which a complete victory was obtained."
This marked success over Ferguson, and the heroic conduct
of the riflemen at Guilford, convinced General Greene, that
" the militia of the back country are formidable." " Camp-
bell's glorious success at King's Mountain," was the terse
encomium of Lieutenant-Colonel Lee, of the Legion

*Moultrie's Memoirs, ii, 242.

AND ITS ^^ROES. 375

Cavalry. " It was a sharp action," said Chief Justice
Marshall, gained by "the victorious mountaineers,"

" No battle," says Lossing, " during the war, was more
obstinately contested than this ; it completely crushed the
spirits of the Loyalists, and weakened, beyond recovery,
the royal power in the Carolinas." * "The victory at
King's Mountain," observes Bancroft, " which in the spirit
of the American soldiers was like the rising at Concord, in
its effects like the success at Bennington, changed the
aspects of the war. The Loyalists of North Carolina no
longer dared rise. It fired the patriots of the two Caro-
linas with fresh zeal. It encouraged the fragments of the
defeated and scattered American army to seek each other,
and organize themselves anew. It quickened the North
Carolina Legislature to earnest efforts. It encouraged
Virginia to devote her resources to the country south of her
border. The appearance on the frontiers of a numerous
enemy from settlements beyond the mountains, whose very
names had been unknown to the British, took Cornwallis
by surprise, and their success was fatal to his intended
expedition. He had hoped to step with ease from one
Carolina to the other, and from those to the conquest of
Virginia ; and he had now no choice but to retreat." f

When all the circumstances, continues the same distin-
guished historian, are considered, the hardihood of the
conception, the brilliancy of the execution, and the
important train of consequences resulting from it, there
was nothing in the North more so, except the surrender
at Saratoga. It is not to be imagined, that the assemb-
lage of the troops was an accidental and tumultuous
congregation of men, merely seeking wild adventures.
On the contrary, although each step in the progress of the
enterprise seemed to be characterized by a daring impulse,
yet the purpose had been coolly conceived, and its execution

* Field Book of the Revolution, ii, pp. 428-29.
f History 0/ the United States, x, 340,

376 KING ** 10UNTAIN

deliberately planned in a temper of not less wisdom than
hardihood. *

Irving declares, that "the battle of King's Mountain,
inconsiderable as it was in the numbers engaged, turned
the tide of Southern warfare. The destruction of Ferguson
and his corps gave a complete check to the expedition of
Cornwallis. He began to fear for the safety of South Caro-
lina, liable to such sudden irruptions from the mountains ;
lest, while he was facing to the north, these hordes of
stark-riding warriors might throw themselves behind him,
and produce a popular combustion in the Province he had
left. He resolved, therefore, to return with all speed to
that Province, and provide for its security." *

Lord Cornwallis fully recognized the extent of the great
disaster. His sudden retreat into South Carolina showed
it. Ferguson, he said, " had taken infinite pains with
some of the militia of Ninety Six," and had confidence that
they would fight well, which his Lordship doubted ; and
yet Cornwallis suffered him to go on a distant service,
without any regulars, artillery, or cavalry for his support,
and the result was, as his Lordship acknowledges, that
Ferguson was "totally defeated at King's Mountain."
The discouraging effect of that crushing disaster on the
Tories, may well be judged from Cornwallis' dispatch to
Sir Henry Clinton: "The militia of Ninety six," he
observes, " on which alone we could place the smallest
dependence, was so totally disheartened by the defeat of
Ferguson, that of that whole district we could with diffi-
culty assemble one hundred ; and even those, I am con-
vinced, would not have made the smallest resistance if they
had been attacked." "The defeat of Major Ferguson,"
wrote Lord Rawdon, "had so dispirited this part of the
country, and indeed the Loyal subjects were so wearied by
the long continuance of the campaign, that Lieutenant-

*MS. statement of Hon. George Bancroft, preserved by General Preston.
\ Irving s Washington, iv, pp. 19394.

AND ITS HEROES. 377

Colonel Cruger, commanding at Ninety Six, sent informa-
tion to Lord Cornwallis, that the whole district had deter-
mined to submit as soon as the Rebels should enter it;"
and, a little later, Lord Cornwallis wrote: "The constant
incursions of refugees, North Carolinians, Back Mountain
men, and the perpetual risings in different parts of this
Province, the invariable successes of all those parties against
our militia, keep the whole country in continual alarm, and
render the assistance of regular troops everywhere neces-
sary. " *

Sir Henry Clinton, the British Commander-in-chief in
America, blamed Lord Cornwallis for detaching Ferguson
without any support of regular troops, when his Lordship
had previously stated, that Ferguson's hopes of success on
his Tory militia "were contrary to the experience of the
army, as well as of Major Ferguson himself; " and " that
his Lordship," wrote Sir Henry, " should, after this opinion,
not only suffer Colonel Ferguson to be detached without
support, but put such a river as the Catawba between him
and Ferguson, was a matter of wonder to Sir H. Clinton
and all who knew it." \

"Great and glorious!" was the exclamation of General
Gates, when the tidings of the grand triumph of the King's
Mountain men reached him. " That memorable victory,"
declared the patriot Jefferson, "was the joyful annunciation of
that turn of the tide of success, which terminated the Revo-
lutionary war with the seal of independence." And richly
did the heroes, who marched under Campbell's banners,
deserve all the praise so generously bestowed upon them.
King's Mountain paved the way for the successive ad-
vantages gained by the American arms at First Dam Ford,
Blackstocks, Cowpens, Guilford, and Eutaw ; and ulti-
mately for the crowning victory of York Town, with the
glorious fruition of " INDEPENDENCE FOREVER."

* Cornwallis' Correspondence, i, pp. 63, 8081, 497-98.
•j* Clinton's Observations on Stedman .

378 KING ' S MO UN TAIN

CHAPTER XVII.

Gen. William Campbell.

His Scotch- Irish Ancestry. — His Father an Early Holston Explorer. —
William Campbells Birth and Education. — Settles on Holston. — A
Captain on Dunmores Campaign. — Raised a Company for the first
Virginia Regiment in 1775. — Returns for the Defence of the Fron-
tiers.— His Military Appointments. — Rencounter with and Hanging
of the Bandit Hopkins. — Suppressing Tories up New River. —
Kings Mountain Expedition — his Bravery Vindicated. — Public
Thanks for his Sennces — Mairhes to Long Island of Holston. —
At WhitzelVs Mills and Guilford. — Resigns from Ill-treatment. —
Made Brigadier -General. — Serves under LaFayette. — Death and
Character. — Notices of his King's Mountain Officers.

The Campbell family, from which the hero of King's
Mountain descended, were originally from Inverary, Argyll-
shire, connected with the famous Campbell clans of the
Highlands of Scotland ; and emigrated to Ireland near the
close of the reign of Queen Elizabeth — about the year
1600. The northern portion of Ireland received, at that
period, large accessions of Scotch Protestants, who proved
valuable and useful citizens. Here the Campbells continued
to live for several generations, until at length John Camp-
bell, with a family of ten or twelve children, removed to
America in 1726, and settled first in Donegal, Lancaster
County, Pennsylvania, where we find one of his sons, Pat-
rick Campbell, born in 1690, serving as a constable in 1729.
About 1730, John Campbell, with three of his sons, Patrick
among them, removed from Pennsylvania to what was then
a part of Orange, now Augusta County, in the rich valley
of Virginia.* Another authority assigns 1738 as the time
of this migration. f

*MS. statements of Gov. David Campbell ; Foote's Sketches of Virginia, second series,
pp. 114, 117; Rupp's History of Lancaster County, Pa., 185; Mombert's Lancaster, 120.
•J- R. A. Brock, Esq., in Richmond Standard, July 10th, 1880.

AND ITS HEROES. 379

Among the children of Patrick Campbell, who thus early
settled in Western Virginia, was Charles, who seems to
have been born in Ireland before the removal of the family
to the New World. He became a prominent and efficient
pioneer of the Augusta Valley. He early married a Miss
Buchanan, whose father, John Buchanan, Sr., had figured
in the wars of Scotland ; and from this union sprang
William Campbell, who subsequently led the Scotch-Irish
patriots of the Holston Valley against Ferguson at King's
Mountain. He was born in Augusta County in 1745 ; and,
though reared on that remote frontier, and amid the excite-
ments and dangers of the French and Indian war of 1755—
63, yet he was enabled, as an only son, to secure the best
education under the best teachers of that period — David
Robinson, a fine scholar, having been, it is believed, among
his instructors, as he was of many others of the youth of
Augusta of that day. Young Campbell acquired a correct
knowledge of the English language, ancient and modern
history, and several branches of the mathematics.*

His father, Charles Campbell, was not only an enterpris-
ing farmer of Augusta, but early engaged in western
exploration, and in the acquisition of the rich wild lands
of the country. In April, 1748, he made an exploring tour
down the Holston, in company with Doctor Thomas
Walker, Colonel James Patton, James Wood, and John
Buchanan, together with a number of hunters and wood-
men. It was on this occasion that Campbell located a fine
tract on the North Fork of Holston, where valuable salt
springs were afterward discovered, for which he obtained a
patent from the Governor of Virginia in 1753. It proved a
great benefit alike to his descendants and the country. In
an old manuscript written apparently in 1750, it is stated
that "John Buchanan and Charles Campbell do not go
out this fall " — indicating a contemplated removal, probably

*Col. Arthur Campbell's MS. Sketch of Gen. William Campbell; Gov. Campbell's MS.
correspondence.

380 KING 'S MO UNTAIN

to the Holston frontiers. As early as 1742, Charles Camp-
bell was enrolled as a militia-man in the company of John
Buchanan; and, in 1752, he was chosen a Captain, and
doubtless rendered service in the defence of the Augusta
Valley during the long period of Indian irruptions and
disturbances of Braddock's war. In the latter part of his
life he became intemperate, and cut short his career, dying
early in 1767.*

At his father's death, William Campbell, then a 3'oung
man of about twenty-two, resolved to remove with his
mother and four young sisters, \ to the frontiers of Holston.
They migrated there, locating on a fine tract called Aspen-
vale, twenty-one miles east of the Wolf Hills, now the
pleasant town of Abingdon, and one mile west of the
Seven Mile Ford. In 1773, he was appointed among the
earliest Justices of Fincastle County, and, in 1774, a Captain
of the militia. Although an only son, and inheriting a
considerable property, he never yielded to the fashionable
follies of young men of fortune. Devoted to the opening
and culture of a plantation in the wilderness, nothing
occurred to interfere with the routine of farm life till the
breaking out of the Indian war in 1774, when he raised a
company of young men, and joining Colonel Christian's regi-
ment, pursued rapidly to overtake Colonel Andrew Lewis,
who had preceded them to Point Pleasant, at the mouth
of the Kenhawa, where a decisive battle was fought, beating
back the Shawanoes and allied tribes. Colonel Christian's
re-inforcement, though they made a forced march, did not
reach the battle-ground till midnight succeeding the engage-
ment. The next morning the army crossed the Ohio, hasten-
ing to join Lord Dunmore, with another division, at the Pick-

*MS. records of Augusta County, Va. ; Winterbotham's America, iii, 230; Morse's
Geography, ed 1797; do., ed. 1805. i, 688; Scott's Geographical Dictionary, 1805; Guthrie's
Geography. 181 5. ii. 472 ; MS. Diary of Dr. Thomas Walker, which alone shows the correct
date of Charles Campbell's exploration of the Holston Valley.

i-The eldest, Elizabeth, married John Taylor; Jane, Thomas Tate; Margaret. Col.
Arthur Campbell ; and Ann, Richard Poston — all men of great respectability, leaving
numerous descendants.

AND ITS HEROES. 381

away plains on the Scioto, where his Lordship concluded a
treaty of peace with the defeated and humbled Indian
tribes. Thus was Captain Campbell, with all his zeal to
engage in active service, and after having traveled hun-
dreds of miles through the wilderness from south-western
Virginia to the heart of the Ohio country, compelled to
sheathe his sword, and return again to his peaceful home on
the Holston.

The aggressions of the British ministry on the rights
of American freemen had already made a deep impression
on the minds of the frontier people. While at Fort Gower,
at the mouth of the Hockhocking, returning from the Scioto
expedition, the troops declared, on the fifth of November,
1774 — Captain Campbell, no doubt, among the number —
that, " as the love of Liberty, and attachment to the real
interests and just rights of America outweigh every other
consideration, we resolve that we will exert every power with-
in us for the defence of American Liberty, and for the support
of her just rights and privileges.' ' And on the twentieth of
January ensuing, Colonels Preston emd Christian, Arthur and
William Campbell, together with William Edmondson,
Reverend Charles Cummings, and other leaders of Fin-
castle County, comprising the Holston settlements, sent a
calm and patriotic address to the Continental Congress,
announcing, that " if no pacific measures shall be proposed
or adopted by Great Britain, and our enemies attempt to
dragoon us out of those inestimable privileges which we are
entitled to as subjects, and reduce us to slavery, we declare
that we are deliberately and resolutely determined never to
surrender them to any power upon earth but at the expense
of our lives. These are our real, though unpolished, senti-
ments of liberty and loyality, and in them we are resolved
to live and die." * These were noble declarations of
William Campbell and associates, proclaimed three months
before the first clang of arms at Lexington, four anterior to

* American Archives, Fourth Series, i, 963, 1168.

382 KING ' 5 MO UNTAIN

the patriotic resolves of the people of Mecklenburg, five
before the deadly strife on Bunker Hill, and nearly a year
and six months before the immortal Declaration of Inde-
pendence by Congress. These sentiments of the men
of Holston formed the key-note of their patriotic efforts
throughout the Revolution — and they never flagged a mo-
ment, while life lasted, till their liberties were secured.

At length war burst upon the country. Captain Camp-
bell, who had pledged himself at Fort Gower, in 1774, to
exert every power within him in the defence of American
liberty, and subsequently renewed the solemn declaration
"to live and die" in support of the great principles for
which Bruce and Wallace, and Hampden and Sydney had,
in the past, contended, now entered warmly into the con-
test, raising the first company in south-western Virginia in
support of the common cause, marching to Williamsburg
with his hunting-shirt riflemen, in September, 1775, and
taking their place in the First Virginia regiment under the
command of the famous Patrick Henry. His commission
as Captain bore date December fifteenth of that year.
Owing to the regiment's confinement to the inactivities
of camp life, and the slights and indignities meted out to
him, Henry at length resigned the command, when his men?
who were devoted to him, went into mourning. Lieutenant-
Colonel Christian succeeded to the command, and the
regiment was placed on Continental establishment, under
General Andrew Lewis ; and shared in dislodging Dunmore
from Gwyn's Island, July ninth, 1776 — the British not
fancying a too close contact with the frontier riflemen,
exclaimed, as they came in sight, "the shirt-men are
coming!" when they, panic-stricken, precipitately evacu-
ated the Island.

Shortly after, intelligence came that the Cherokees,
instigated by British agents and emissaries, had attacked
the frontiers, when Colonel Christian resigned, and returned
to the Holston country to lead an expedition against the

AND ITS HEROES. 383

hostile Indians. When Captain Campbell heard of these
border troubles, he felt not a little uneasy on account of the
unprotected situation of his mother and sisters ; and wrote
to Major Arthur Campbell, expressing the hope that all the
women and children in the Holston country might be
gathered into forts, thus enabling the men to engage in
repelling the enemy, adding: " I have the most cogent
reasons for endeavoring to resign, and can, I think, do so
with honor ; and if I possibly can, I shall be with you
soon." * He felt it was his duty to repair to the frontiers,
and lend all his aid in their defence. But he was not able
to leave the service till near the close of the year, and thus
failed to share in Christian's expedition against the Chero-
kees. But the delay, perhaps, aided him in securing a
noble companion for life, in the person of Miss Elizabeth
Henry, a sister of his old commander, Patrick Henry — the
unrivalled orator and statesman of the Revolution. During
this service of over a year in eastern Virginia, Captain
Campbell acquired a practical knowledge of military tactics,
and the discipline of an army, which proved of great value
to him in his subsequent campaigns to King's Mountain
and Guilford.

On his return home he found the Cherokees, having
been subdued, were quiet for awhile. The large County
of Fincastle, embracing much of south-western Virginia
and all of Kentucky, was sub-divided ; and on the organi-
zation of Washington County, in January, 1777, he was con-
tinued a member of the Justices' Court, and made Lieutenant-
Colonel of the militia, Arthur Campbell having been made
County Lieutenant or Colonel Commandant, and Evan
Shelby, Colonel. At this term of the court, William Camp-
bell, William Edmondson, and two others were appointed
commissioners to hire wagons to bring zip the County salt
allotted by the Government and Council, and receive and
distribute the same, making it necessary to wagon the salt

*MS. letter, August ist, 1776.

384 KING'S MOUNTAIN

fully four hundred miles, over rough roads, from Williams-
burg. This was several years before the rich salt wells were
discovered on Colonel Campbell's lands on North Holston.
In the fall of this year, Colonel Campbell, having been
appointed a commissioner for running the boundary line
between Virginia and the Cherokees, probably in fulfill-
ment of stipulations of the treaty at Long Island of Holston,
in July preceding, performed this service, the line ex-
tending from the mouth of Big creek to the high knob on
Cumberland Mountain, a few miles west of Cumberland
Gap.* During the year 1778, he seems to have been
engaged in no special public service.

In the summer of 1779, there was a partial uprising of
Tories in Montgomery County, where Colonel Walter
Crockett, by his energy, succeeded in quelling the insur-
rection before it had gained much headwa}'. The same Tory
spirit had extended itself into Washington County — and
even into the Watauga and Nolachucky settlements ; but the
leaders were not open in their movements — -rather like
bandits, struck their blows in the dark, under disguises and
concealments. Colonel Campbell was very out-spoken
against them. His gates were placarded, threatening his
life ; and an attempt was made to take him, of a dark night,
and in a deep forest, by two of these desperadoes, but they
mistook their man — otherwise Colonel Campbell would have
probably lost his life at their hands.

Not long after, when he was returning from the Ebbing
Spring meeting house, where he had been hearing a good
Presbyterian sermon, mounted on horseback, accompanied
by his wife, his cousin John Campbell and family, Captain
James Dysart and wife, James Fullen, a man named Farris,
an African negro named Thomas, and others, he discovered
a man approaching, on horseback, who turned off into the
woods — a suspicious circumstance. Colonel Campbell did
not personally know him, but John Campbell, who did, told

*MS. pension statement of Charles Bickley.

AND ITS HEROES. 385

the Colonel that it was Francis Hopkins, the Tory ban-
dit. For a year or more Hopkins had given the County
authorities much trouble ; they had imposed heavy fines upon
him for his rascalities, and had placed him under heavy
bonds. He had been found guilty of passing counterfeit
money — was ordered imprisoned at Cocke's Fort on Renfroe
creek, till the county jail should be completed ; and when the
new structure was ready for occupancy, it was a ricketty
affair, and Hopkins one dark night was released from his
confinement by the aid of sympathizing Tories, who pried the
jail door from its hinges, and carried it half a mile away.
Thus the bandit and counterfeiter evaded further imprison-
ment, and snapped his fingers at justice. He fled to the
nearest British garrison — probably in Georgia — where he
obtained a commission, with letters to the Cherokee Indians
and the white emissaries among them, urging them to fall
upon the frontier settlers with fagot, knife, and tomahawk.
He was, in every sense, an infamous Tory, and a dangerous
character.

Upon learning the name of the stranger, Colonel Camp-
bell instantly put spurs to his horse, and gave chase to the
bandit ; and in the course of one or two miles, reaching
the deep ford of the Middle Fork of Holston,* about a mile
above where Captain Thompson then lived, Hopkins, who
was mounted on a fine horse, rode down a steep bluff, some
fifteen or twenty feet, plunging into the river. Campbell, by
this time, was close in pursuit, and not to be balked, followed
the bandit into the water. The fearful leap threw Hopkins
from his horse ; and, before he could recover, Campbell
was at him. They had a long and desperate rencounter in
river, the bandit losing his dirk. Hopkins was the strongest
man, and came near drowning Campbell, when Fullen and
some of the others, who had followed, came to his relief;
and, with their assistance, the bandit was, after something
of an enforced ducking, subdued and taken to the bank.

*This locality is now on James Byar's farm, in Washington County.
25

386 KING 'S MO UNTAIN

Hopkins' reckless character was well known — a leader
of a mountain clan of desperadoes, who had long infested
the country, committing robberies on defenceless people
along the thinly populated frontiers. No time was lost — there
was no jail in the county that could hold him, and it was
dangerous to the community to suffer such a lawless char-
acter to roam at large, threatening the lives of such men as
William Campbell. On taking the culprit to the bank
of the stream, they searched him, finding his commission,
with commissions for others, and the letters to the Cherokees,
which he had not yet delivered. The horse he rode was
stolen but a few hours before ; and he had a new halter tied
on behind his saddle, evidently intended for another horse,
preparatory, perhaps, for a journey, w7ith some accomplice,
to the Cherokee country. But the halter, like Haman's
gallows, was put to quite a different use from what was
designed ; for with it, Hopkins, who was insolent to Camp-
bell, was speedily hung to the limb of a convenient sycamore
that leaned over the river. When Colonel Campbell
rejoined his wife, she eagerly inquired, " What did you do
with him, Mr. Campbell?" "Oh, we hung him, Betty —
that's all." The whole country rejoiced at this riddance
of one of the greatest pests to society. Others of the ban-
dit party were hunted down, and several of them killed —
one on Clinch, and another at the lower end of Washing-
ton County, or on the borders of the neighboring County
of Sullivan, in now Tennessee.

At the ensuing October session of the Virginia Legis-
lature, an act was passed, at the instance of General
Thomas Nelson, Jr., one of the signers of the Declaration
of Independence, and afterwards Governor of the State, to
fully meet the case — though it would seem to have hardly
been necessary. The act states, that while the measures
for the suppression of "open insurrection and conspiracy"
may not have been "strictly warranted by law, it was
justifiable from the immediate urgency and imminence

AND ITS HEROES. 387

of the danger" — hence "that William Campbell, Walter
Crockett, and other liege subjects of the Commonwealth,
aided by detachments of the militia and volunteers from
the County of Washington and other parts of the frontiers,
did by timely and effectual exertion, suppress and defeat
such conspiracy," and they were declared fully exonerated
and indemnified for the act.*

In April, 1780, Colonel Campbell was promoted to the
full rank of Colonel, in place of Evan Shelby, Sr., whose
residence, it was now determined, was in North Carolina.
He served a term in the House of Delegates from early in
May, until the twentieth of June, when he obtained leave of
absence for the remainder of the session, to engage in an
expedition against the Chickamauga towns, Governor Jef-
ferson and his council authorizing him to embody two hun-
dred and fifty militia from Washington and Montgomery
counties, and unite with a conjunctive force from the Caro-
linas.f

But soon after his return home, he found a dangerous
enemy in the midst of the white settlements. Two hundred
Tories of the New river region, within what is now Grayson
County, Virginia, and Ashe County, North Carolina, had
risen in arms, with some British officers aiding them, with a
view of seizing the Lead Mines, near the present Wytheville ;
when Colonel Campbell, by order of Colonel Preston, took
the field in August at the head of one hundred and forty or
fifty men, and scoured that wild, mountainous country ; and
at a place known as the Big Glades, or Round Meadows,
approaching a large party of Tories, the latter under cover
of a thick fog, fled, dispersing in every direction, and hiding
themselves in the mountains, losing only one of their num-

* Statement of Colonel Samuel Newell, December 9. 1833, m The Land We Love, May
1867; MS. Correspondence of Governor D. Campbell and John B. Dysart; conversations
with Colonel Patrick H. Fontaine, a grandson of Patrick Henry, and General Thomas
Love; Henning's Statutes of Virginia, x, 195. In Atkinson's Casket, for September, 1833,
is an interesting story founded on the hanging of Hopkins, having, however, but little
resemblance to the real facts in the case.

\ Journal of House of Delegates, 1780; Gibbes' Doc. History, 1776-82, p. 135.

388 KING'S MO UNTAIN

ber in their flight. Colonel Cleveland on a similar service,
had captured Zachariah Goss, one of Plundering Sam
Brown's gang of murderers, horse-thieves, and robbers,
who was tried and immediately hung at Peach Bottom, on
New River, in the presence of Cleveland's and Camp-
bell's parties ; while two other villains were very well
whipped. Colonel Campbell then marched to the old
Moravian town of Bethabara, in North Carolina, where
he made head-quarters for some time, sending out de-
tachments in quest of Tory bands — one penetrating into
Guilford County, surprised and dispersed two companies of
Tories at night, and captured Captain Nathan Read, one of
their leaders, and seventeen others — Captain Eli Branson,
another of their leaders, narrowly escaping. Read was
tried, Colonels Cleveland and Martin Armstrong, and
Major Lewis sitting upon the court-martial, was found guilty
of crimes and misdemeanors, and condemned to be hung —
with the alternative presented him of joining the patriots,
and serving faithfully to the end of the war, which he de-
clined, meeting his death heroically. Another party of
Tories was dispersed above the Shallow Ford of Yadkin.*
Returning from this expedition, Colonel Campbell led
four hundred brave riflemen from Washington County
across the Alleghanies to meet Ferguson's Rangers and the
united Tories of the Carolinas. Their utter discomfiture
has been fully related ; and too much praise cannot well be
accorded to "the hero of King's Mountain" for his gallant
bearing during the campaign generally, and especially for
his heroic conduct in the battle. It is a matter of regret,
that such patriots as Shelby and Sevier should have been
deceived into the belief that the chivalric Campbell shirked
from the dangers of the conflict, mistaking, as they did,
the Colonel's servant in the distance for the Colonel him-

* Colonel William Campbell's MSS ; statement of John Spelts, who was out in this ser-
vice; MS. Pension statements of Colonel Robert Love and James Keys, of Campbell's men;
Gibbes' Doc. History, 1776-82, p. 137.

AND ITS HEROES.

self; when well-nigh forty survivors of the battle, including
some of Campbell's worthiest officers, and men of Shel-
by's, Sevier's, and Cleveland's regiments as well, testifying,
of their own knowledge, to his personal share in the action,
and specifying his presence in every part of the hotly-con-
tested engagement, from the beginning to the final surren-
der of the enemy at discretion. It is evident that such
heroes as Shelby and Sevier had quite enough to do within
the range of their own regiments, without being able to
observe very much what was transpiring beyond them.
And what Shelby honestly supposed was a vague confes-
sion by Campbell of unaccountable conduct on his part in
the latter part of the action, simply referred to his too pre-
cipitate order to fire on the unresisting Tories when Col-
onel Williams had been shot down after the close of the
contest. But in such a victory, without unjustly detracting
from Campbell's great merits and rich deservings, there is
both honor and fame enough for all his worthy compatriots
also. * It may be proper to note, that the sword that Col-
onel Campbell wielded at King's Mountain, and subse-
quently at Guilford — his trusty Andrea di Ferrara — more
than a century old, was used by his Caledonian ancestors
in the wars of the Pretenders, and is yet preserved by his
Preston descendants. \

Colonel Campbell would have been more or less than
mortal, had he not felt a sense of satisfaction for the high
praises showered upon him and his associates for the
decisive triumph achieved at King's Mountain — emanating
from Gates, Washington, the Legislature of Virginia, and
the Continental Congress. The latter august body voted,
that it entertained "a high sense of the spirited and mili-

*Both Colonel William Martin and Elijah Callaway, who were intimately acquainted
with Colonel Cleveland, state that he frequently spoke of Campbells good deportment in
the battle; Major Lewis, of Cleveland's regiment, declared that, had it not been for
Campbell and his Virginians Ferguson would have remained master of King's Mountain ;
and General Lenoir, also of Cleveland's men. testified to Campbell's gallant conduct in
the action.

+ Colonel Arthur Campbell's Memoir; Campbell's History of Virginia, i860, p. 700.

390 KING >S MO UNTAIN

tary conduct of Colonel Campbell" and his associates;
while the Virginia House of Delegates voted its "thanks
to Colonel Campbell," his officers and soldiers, for their
patriotic conduct in repairing to the aid of a distressed sis-
ter State, and after " a severe and bloody conflict," had
achieved a decisive victory ; and that " a good horse, with
elegant furniture, and a sword, be purchased at the public
expense, and presented to Colonel William Campbell as a
further testimony of the high sense the General Assem-
bly entertain of his late important services to his country."
To these high compliments of the Legislature, Colonel
Campbell returned the following modest acknowledgment :

" Gentlemen — I am infinitely happy in receiving this
public testimony of the approbation of my country for my
late services in South Carolina. It is a reward far above
my expectations, and I esteem it the noblest a soldier can
receive from a virtuous people. Through you, gentlemen,
I wish to communicate the high sense I have of it to the
House of Delegates. I owe, under Providence, much to
the brave officers and soldiers who served with me ; and I
shall take the earliest opportunity of transmitting the
resolve of your House to them, who, I am persuaded, will
experience all the honest heart-felt satisfaction I myself
feel on this occasion." *

Now hurrying to his frontier home on the Holston, he
found that the restless Cherokees had again been at their
bloody work, and Colonel Arthur Campbell had in Decem-
ber, 1780, aided by Colonel Sevier and Major Martin, led
forth a strong force for their chastisement. Colonel Will-
iam Campbell at once raised additional troops, and marched
as far as the Long Island of Holston, \ to succor his kins-
man if need be ; but it was not necessary, for the Chero-

* Journals of Congress, 1780, 367; Journal of the Virginia House of Delegates, 1780,
Fall session, pp. 13, 18. The Virginia Legislature subsequently called a County after him,
to perpetuate his name and memory.

+ MS. correspondence of Colonel William Martin, one of William Campbell's men, and
of Governor D. Campbell; Haywood's Tennessee, 98.

AND ITS HEROES. 391

kees were pursued in detached parties by their invaders,
many of their warriors were killed, and their settlements
desolated.

On the thirtieth of January, 1781, General Greene wrote
to "the famous Colonel William Campbell," reminding him
of the glory he had already acquired, and urging him "to
bring, without loss of time, a thousand good volunteers
from over the mountains." Notwithstanding the Cherokees
were still troublesome, and threatening the frontiers, the
noted Logan, with a northern band, was committing depre-
dations on Clinch, while others were doing mischief in
Powell's Valley, yet Colonel Campbell raised over a hun-
dred of his gallant riflemen, and moved forward on Feb-
ruary twenty-fifth,* others joining him on the way, until
he brought General Greene, about the second of March, a
re-inforcement of over four hundred mountaineers. \ Lord
Cornwallis had imbibed a personal resentment towards
Colonel Campbell, as the commander at King's Mountain,
threatening that should he fall into his hands, he would
have him instantly put to death for his rigor against the
Tories — evidently designing to hold him personally respon-
sible for the execution of the Tory leaders at Bickerstaff's.
This, instead of intimidating, had the contrary effect ; and
Campbell, in turn, resolved, if the fortunes of war should
place Cornwallis in his power, he should meet the fate
of Ferguson. \

Could anything have served to give additional spirit to
Colonel Campbell, and nerve him to almost superhuman
exertions, it was just such a dastardly threat as that uttered
by Lord Cornwallis. Campbell and his men were soon
called into action. Taking advantage of a thick fog, Lord
Cornwallis sent forward a strong force to beat up the quar-
ters of Greene's advance parties — or, as Greene supposed,

* Calendar of Virginia State Papers, 548, 555.

-f- Calendar 0/ Virginia State Papers, 542; Johnson's Greene, i, 438.

\ Colonel Arthur Campbell's memoir of General William Campbell.

392 KING ;S MO UNTAIN

either to intercept his stores, or cut off the Light Infantry,
including the riflemen, from the main body. These advance
columns met at Whitzell's Mills, on Reedy creek, some
seven miles from Greene's camp, where Colonel Otho H.
Williams, with Campbell's and Preston's riflemen, and
Washington's and Lee's corps, formed on the southern
bank of the stream, in front of the ford, and some two
hundred yards below the mill. The main object was to
protect the mill as long as possible, and enable Greene's
provision wagons to load with flour and meal, and get off
with the needed supply, which they barely effected. As
the British, with their short Yager riflemen in front, ap-
proached, they fired in the distance ; and when within
eighty yards, descending towards the creek, the American
riflemen opened on them with deadly effect, one of the
officers of the enemy, when shot, bounding up several feet,
fell dead ; a second discharge on the advancing foe, when
only some forty-five yards off, was also very destructive.
The enemy had opened their field pieces, but, like the fire
of their small arms, wras too high, and only took effect
among the limbs of the trees. As the atmosphere was
heavy, the powder smoke obstructed the enemy's view ;
while the Americans, below them, had abetter opportunity.
The fighting was chiefly done by the riflemen, and Lee's
Legion, while covered by the regulars; and "Colonel
Campbell," says John Craig, one of his riflemen, "acted
with his usual courage.*'

Having accomplished the object they had in view — the
security of the flour and meal, — the Americans retired
over the ford, which was some three feet deep, with a rapid
current, over a slippery, rocky bottom, with a steep brushy
bank on the northern shore to ascend. While effecting this
passage, the gallant Major Joseph Cloyd, of Preston's rifle-
men, observed his old commander on foot, who had been
unhorsed in the conflict, and dismounting, aided Colonel
Preston, who was now advanced in years and quite fleshy,
into the saddle, when both escaped.* "The enemy,"

*MS. notes of conversations with Thomas Hickman, of Davidson County, Ten-

AND ITS HEROES. 393

said General Greene, "were handsomely opposed, and suf-
fered considerably. "

After no little manoeuvring, the battle of Guilford took
place on the fifteenth of March. It was brought on by a
sharp action, in the morning, by the advance, consist-
ing of Lee's Legion, and a portion of Campbell's riflemen —
in which Lee was supposed to have inflicted a loss of fifty
on the part of Tarleton ; while the Light Infantry of the
Guards were so hard pressed by the riflemen, losing a hun-
dred of their number, that a portion of Tarleton's cavalry-
went to their relief. In the main battle that soon followed,
Lee's Legion and Campbell's riflemen formed the corps of
observation on the left flank — the riflemen occupying a
woodland position. During the obstinate contest, Camp-
bell's corps fought with the heroic bravery characteristic of
their noble leader, and of their own unrivalled reputation.
When the enemy charged the Maryland Line, Campbell
with his riflemen made a spirited attack on the regiment
of Boze, on the British right wing, and drove it back ; and
when the riflemen, in turn, were charged with the bayonet,
having none to repel them, they were obliged for the
moment to retire, still loading and firing, however, on
their pursuers, and thus, whether charging or retiring,
kept up a destructive fire on these veteran German sub-
sidiaries. So severely did Campbell's riflemen handle
his right wing, that Lord Cornwallis was obliged to order
Tarleton to extricate it, and bring it off. By this time Lee
had retired with his cavalry, without apprising Campbell of
his movement ; and the result was, that the riflemen were
swept from the field.*

ncssee, and Major Herndon Haralson, of Brownsville, Tennessee, in 1844, and Benjamin
Starritt, all participants in the action; Tarleton's Campaigns, 135 ; Stedman, ii, 336; Lee's
Memoirs, revised ed., 265-67; Greene, in Lettetfio Washington, iii, 260; Johnson's Greene,
i, 462-63; Greene's Greene, iii, 188.

* MS. Notes of conversations with Benjamin Starritt, of Lee's Legion; Tarleton's
Campaigns, 270-71, 275-76; Stedman, with MS marginal notes by Captain J. R. Whitford,
". 337. 343; Lee's Memoirs, new ed., 276-83; Johnson Greene, ii, 6; Lossing's Field Book,
ii, 402, 403 ; Bancroft, x, 476-79 ; Dawson's Battles, ii, 665-67. MS. Letter of Hon. W. C.
Preston, to the author, July 10th, 1840.

394 KING 'S MO UNTAIN

Lee commended Colonel Campbell for the bravery dis-
played in the action by his battalion ; and Greene assured
him, that his "faithful services" claimed his General's
warmest thanks, and his "entire approbation of his con-
duct " — adding : " Sensible of your merit, I feel a pleasure
in doing justice to it." Displeased with the treatment shown
to himself and riflemen — who were the first in the engage-
ment, and the last in the field — Campbell retired in disgust
from the service. At his home on the Holston, he an-
nounced himself, on the thirty-first of March, as a candi-
date for the House of Delegates, saying: "The resignation
of my military commission, which I could not longer hold
with honor, after the treatment I have received, puts it out
of my power to serve my country as an officer. "* Camp-
bell and his men felt deeply aggrieved — feeling that Lee
had abandoned them without notice, and left them to main-
tain the unequal contest unprotected by cavalry, when
Tarleton directed his dragoons against them.

" You have no doubt observed," wrote General William
R. Davie, "that Campbell's regiment of riflemen acted
with Lee on the left flank of the army. After the main
body of the army had been pushed off the field, these
troops remained engaged with the Yagers of the regiment
of Boze, near the Court House, some of them covered by
houses, others by a skirt of thick wood. In this situation,
they were charged by the British cavalry, and some of
them were cut down. Lee's cavalry were drawn up on the
edge of the open ground, above the Court House, about
two hundred yards off, and, as Colonel Campbell asserted,
moved as this charge was made on his riflemen. On the
day after the action, Campbell was extremely indignant at
this movement, and spoke freely of Lee's conduct. Lee
was, however, sent off the same day, to watch the enemy's
movements, and Campbell's regiment were soon dis-
charged." f

*MS. Letter of Colonel Campbell to Colonel Daniel Smith, on Clinch.
\ Johnson's Greene, ii, 16-17, 20.

AND ITS HEROES. 395

" Lee's abandonment of Campbell's riflemen," said the
late William C. Preston, " at twilight, and without giving
notice of his withdrawal, was long regarded by the survi-
vors with the most bitter feelings, which were subsequently
revived by the manner in which he sunk their services and
sufferings in his published account of the battle."* This,
at least, is expressive of the sentiments of Campbell and
his men ; and, at this late day, it is difficult to determine
whether Lee was excusable, or culpable, for the course he
pursued. But well-merited compliments and soothing
words, on the part of General Greene, did not change
Colonel Campbell's determination to withdraw from the
service. He accordingly left camp on the morning of the
twentieth ; and returning home resigned his commission in
the militia.

Colonel Campbell, as the oldest serving Justice in the
County Court, became entitled to a term of the office of
Sheriff, but declined the position. He was chosen to rep-
resent Washington County in the House of Delegates.
The General Assembly convened at Richmond early in
May of this year ; but owing to the approach of the enemy,
they adjourned to meet at Charlottesville on the twenty-
fourth of that month ; and, on June the fourth, they were
compelled hurriedly to adjourn to Staunton to escape cap-
ture by Tarleton. During the session, disturbed as it was,
much important public business was transacted. Colonel
Campbell was placed on several of the leading committees,
associated with Patrick Henry and other prominent
patriots — on privileges and elections, the establishment of
martial law, and amendatory of the militia act. General
Morgan was again called into service by the Legislature ;
and a few days later, on the fourteenth of June, the House
of Delegates chose Colonel Campbell a Brigadier General
of the militia, to serve under Marquis De La Fayette, then
commanding in Virginia, which was concurred in by the

♦MS. letter to the author, July ioth, 1840.

396 KING'S MOUNTAIN

Senate the following day. On the sixteenth, General
Campbell obtained leave of absence for the remainder of
the session, and at once repaired to La Fayette's camp for
service. He became a favorite of that gallant nobleman,
who assigned him to the command of a brigade of light
infantry and riflemen. *

While General Campbell was temporarily absent, and
his corps was encamped at some point in Cumberland
County, a Parson McCrea, of the old established church,
who had drawn his salary in tobacco for many a year,
visited the camp, and plied his best arguments to discourage
the men, representing that the great strength of Cornwallis'
army would enable them to slaughter the feeble American
force like so many beeves. General Campbell returning,
and hearing of this insolent visit, sent a detail of men to
apprehend the inter-meddling Parson ; and severely repri-
manded him for his unpatriotic conduct, saying his age
alone excused him from corporal punishment ; " but we
will show you," added the General, "how we intend to
serve Cornwallis." He then ordered the Tory clergyman
to prostrate himself flat on his belly across the road, when
every soldier stepped over him on their march. We are
afraid the good man left in too ill a humor to properly pray
for his enemies.

From the published histories, and the gazettes of that
day, it would not appear that General Campbell had any
share in the battle of Jamestown Ford, fought on the sixth
of July, mainly by Wayne's brigade ; yet a survivor of
La Fayette's army stated that Campbell participated in the
attack, and fell back fighting as he retired. f His riflemen,
perhaps, formed the reserve of Wayne's attacking party ;
for some of his riflemen were wounded, and Colonel John
Boyer, of his rifle corps, from Rockbridge County, was.

* Journals of the Virginia Legislature, 1781 ; Colonel Arthur Campbell's memoir,
f MS. notes of conversations with Reverend James Haynes, near Paris, Tenn., in 1844,
then eighty-four years of age.

AND ITS HEROES. 397

made a prisoner by the enemy. Though Cornwallis
affected the most haughty contempt for " the boy'' La-
Fayette, he must have had some respect for Wayne, the
hero of Stony Point, for Campbell, who had taken a little
detached army from him at King's Mountain, and for
Morgan, who had handled his detachment under Tarleton
so roughly at the Cowpens.

While Cornwallis was encamped at Williamsburg, and
La Fayette six miles distant on the road leading to Rich-
mond, General Campbell, in command of the light troops,
usually kept a picket guard of a dozen or fifteen of his
mounted men at the Three Burnt Chimneys, about midway
between the hostile camps. For several successive morn-
ings the enemy would send out a superior body of horsemen,
and drive in the American picket. Campbell determined to
profit by this experience. A short distance in the rear
of the Burnt Chimneys was a fine grove by the road-side,
surrounding a church. In this grove Campbell posted a
large detachment of mounted riflemen, himself at their
head ; and placed the customary picket at the Burnt Chim-
neys, with directions to retire on the approach of the
expected British cavalry early in the morning. The
enemy, as usual, hotly pursued the fleeing Americans
under whip and spur, until they reached the grove, when an
unexpected volley of rifle balls unhorsed a goodly number
of the astonished Britons — killing some twenty or more of
their cavalry men, and thirty or forty of their horses. The
survivors fled back in dismay, and the picket at the Burnt
Chimneys was no more annoyed. *

But General Campbell's services were destined to a
sudden termination. Taken with a complaint in his breast,
he was conveyed to the residence of Colonel John Syme, his
wife's half brother, at Rocky Mills, in Hanover County,
where, after a few days' illness, he expired, August the

* MS. notes of conversations, in January, 1844, with James Givens, one of Campbell's
men, then in his eightietli year.

398 KING 'S MO UNTAIN

twenty-second, 1781, in his thirty-sixth year. When
La Fayette received intelligence of the death of his friend,
he issued a General Order announcing the sad event, char-
acterizing General Campbell as " an officer whose services
must have endeared him to every citizen, and in particular
to every American soldier. The glory which General
Campbell has acquired in the affairs of King's Mountain
and Guilford Court House, will do his memory everlasting
honor, and insure him a high rank among the defenders
of liberty in the American cause;" General La Fayette
regretting that the funeral was so great a distance from the
army, as to deprive him and his officers the privilege of
paying to General Campbell the honors due to his rank,
and "particularly to his merit," and deputing four field
officers to repair to Rocky Mills and, in behalf of the army,
pay him their last tribute of respect.

Here his remains reposed until 1823, when his relatives
had them removed to his old Aspenvale homestead on the
Holston, in now Smyth County, beside his mother, little son,
and other relatives, and where a neat monument was erect-
ed to his memory. His widow, a son, and a daughter
survived him — the widow subsequently uniting in marriage
with General William Russell ; the son died young ; the
daughter, Sarah, became the wife of General Francis Pres-
ton, and mother of Hon. William C. Preston, General
John S. Preston, and Colonel Thomas L. Preston. Gen-
eral Campbell's widow died in November, 1825, aged about
eighty ; and his daughter, Mrs. Preston, died at Abingdon,
Virginia, July twenty-third, 1846, at the age of nearly
seventy years.

There was something akin to rivalry between Colonel
Arthur Campbell and his brother-in-law, William Camp-
bell, whose sister Margaret he had married. She was a
woman of excellent mind, and of uncommon beauty and
sprightliness ; and withal she possessed no little ambition,
which she endeavored to turn to good account in her

AND ITS HEROES. 399

husband's behalf. This young wife encouraged him in all
his plans by which he might acquire distinction as a public
man. Her whole mind seemed completely absorbed in
this one great object of her life, to which every other must
bend; no privation, however great, annoyed her in the
smallest degree, if she believed it would contribute to the ac-
quirement of either military or civil reputation for her hus-
band. Her extreme solicitude and promptings to push him
up the ladder of fame, caused him sometimes to make false
steps, and involved him in unnecessary altercations with
his brother-in-law and others. Except these ambitious ef-
forts, and they were always promoted in a manner to grat-
ify her husband, she was among the most exemplary of
women, never having a thought in opposition to his upon
any subject, and believing him to be the greatest man in
the country, not excepting her brother, of whose abilities
she entertained a very exalted opinion.*

Colonel Arthur Campbell was some three years the
senior of William Campbell ; this fact, and his having been
in youth a prisoner with the Indians, had given him the
precedence in martial affairs. His military talents, how-
ever, were not of the first order, while William Campbell
thought that the experience he had gained on the Point
Pleasant campaign, and during his year's service in the
Williamsburg region, in 1775-76, fairly entitled him to lead
his brother-in-law, who would not acquiesce in this view,
and jealousies were the consequence, and sometimes open
ruptures. There appears to have been a sort of quasi un-
derstanding between them, that they should take turns in
commanding the Washington force on military expeditions
against the enemy. While Colonel William Campbell led
the troops against the Tories up New river, the men com-
posing the command were only in part from Washington
County ; and, hence he was permitted to go on the King's
Mountain campaign, heartily seconded in his efforts by

*MS. letter of Gov. David Campbell to the author, Dec. 12, 1840.

400 KING 'S MO UNTAIN

Colonel Arthur Campbell. The latter led the expedition
in December following against the Cherokees ; and when,
shortly after, William Campbell received the urgent in-
vitation from General Greene to join him with a band of
riflemen, Colonel Arthur Campbell interposed objections,
nominally on the ground of danger from the Indians, but
probably prompted in fact somewhat by his jealousy of his
brother-in-law's growing fame as a leader in expeditions
against the enemy.

General Campbell had a very imposing personal ap-
pearance— the beau ideal of a military chieftain with those
who served under him, He was about six feet, two inches
high, possessing a large, muscular, well-proportioned frame
— rather raw-boned ; with an iron constitution, capable of al-
most incredible endurance — and he was as straight as an In-
dian. His complexion was ruddy, with light colored or red-
dish hair, and bright blue eyes. His countenance presented
a serious — nay, stern appearance ; and when not excited ex-
pressive of great benevolence ; but when his ire was stirred,
he exhibited the fury of an Achilles. On such occasions he
would commit violent and indiscreet acts ; he was, however,
easily calmed, particularly when approached by those in
whom he reposed confidence — to such he would yield his
opinions without the slightest opposition. In conversation
he was reserved and thoughtful ; in his written communica-
tions, expressive and elegant. He was bland in his man-
ners, and courteous to all with whom he had intercourse,
whether high or low, rich or poor. At preaching in the
country, it was his constant custom to look around after ser-
mon was ended, and assist all the women of the neighbor-
hood, especially the more aged, who were not attended,
on their horses.

Of Scottish descent, he inherited the principles and
predilections of his persecuted Presbyterian -ancestors
of that northern land. His religious zeal — certainly in
theory — and his devotion to liberty, were alike deep, fer-

AND ITS HEROES. 401

vent, and exclusive. In his domestic and social relations,
he was the most amiable of men. He would send his ser-
vants to aid a poor neighbor, while he would himself plow
through the heat of the day in his fields, giving his spare
moments to his Bible and his God, endeavoring scrupu-
lously to live up to the golden rule in all his dealings with
his fellow men. But he set his face like a flint against the
enemies of his country and of freedom, proving himself
almost as inflexible as a Claverhouse or a Cumberland
toward those who betrayed or deserted the holy cause for
which he contended, and for which he died.

But it was as a military genius that he shone preeminent.
He had the ability to form able plans — confidence in him-
self, and indefatigable perseverance to execute them ; and
the rare capacity to inspire all under his command with his
own confidence and indomitable courage. Had he acted
on as conspicuous a stage as Warren or Montgomery, his
name and fame would have been as illustrious as theirs.
With inferior numbers of undisciplined volunteers, em-
bodied with great celerity, led forth, with scanty supplies,
nearly two hundred miles over rugged mountains, he
totally defeated Ferguson, one of the most experienced and
enterprising of the British partisan leaders — gaining, as he
expressed it, "victory to a wish." At Guilford he fully
sustained his high reputation, and had the North Carolina
militia behaved with the firmness and courage equal to his
riflemen, the army of Cornwrallis would not have been
crippled only, but would, in all probability, have met with
irretrievable disaster.

General Campbell never balanced between military duty
and prudential maxims. Himself a hater of vice and
treason in every form, he was by some deemed too severe
in punishing the deviations of others — yet his acts, in his
own estimation, were the result of the purest patriotic
impulses. Wherever the story of King's Mountain and
Guilford is read, and the services of their heroes fully

402 KING 'S MO UNTAIN

appreciated, it will be found that William Campbell has
" purpled o'er his name with deathless glory."

Of such of General Campbell's officers as served with
him at King's Mountain, and concerning whom facts have
been obtained, brief notices will be made. Major William
Edmondson — or Edmiston, as frequently written in early
days — the second in command of the Virginia regiment in
the battle, was descended from Irish ancestry, and born in
Cecil County, Maryland, in 1734. While he was yet
young, his father removed to what is now Rockbridge
County, Virginia, where he grew to years of manhood,
receiving a limited education. He early engaged in the
old French and Indian war.

Learning of Colonel Byrd's expedition down the Hol-
ston, destined against the Cherokees, in 1760, William
Edmondson, and his brother Samuel, concluded to enlist,
so as to give them an opportunity to examine the lands
of the Holston country with a view to future settlement.
While on this service, William Edmondson was guilty
of the high crime of addressing an officer without taking
off his hat, as was required of all soldiers, for which he
was severely rebuked, and threatened with punishment.
Reaching his comrades in great wrath, Edmondson loaded
his rifle, and swore he would shoot the officer who had so
grossly insulted him ; and it was with great difficulty, that
his brother dissuaded him from it. One of the Virginia
officers, who knew Edmondson, wrote to Governor Fau-
quier, that there was a high spirited soldier in his corps,
who, unless commissioned, was likely to get into trouble, f
On the first of August, in that year, the Governor sent

* These salient points in the character of General Campbell are drawn from Colonel
Arthur Campbell's memoir; Governor D. Campbell's MS. correspondence; and the recol-
lections of Colonel Walter Lewis, who had served under him, in Atkinson' s Casket, Sep-
tember, 1833, 387.

+ MS. letter of Hon. Benjamin Estill, August 21st, 1845.

AND ITS HEROES. 403

him an Ensign's commission to serve on that expedition.
But when Byrd got pretty well down the Valley, he took to
camp, but made no further progress during that nor the
following year. In 1763, Governor Fauquier sent Edmond-
son a commission of Lieutenant in the militia.

Having married a Miss Montgomery, he removed, after
the war, to the New river frontiers, in now Grayson County ;
and subsequently to what now constitutes Washington Coun-
ty, settling on a tract of land received for his military ser-
vices. In 1774 he was commissioned a Lieutenant in the
militia of Fincastle County, served on the frontiers of
Clinch and Sandy, and probably in Christian's regiment on
the expedition to Point Pleasant and the Scioto : and, in
1776, he was made a Captain, and served on the campaign
against the Cherokees in the fall of that year. In 1777, he
was appointed a Justice, and failed only a few votes of an
election to the House of Delegates. He was, this year,
selected by the Legislature one of the commissioners for
taking depositions against the claim of Henderson and
Company to the Kentucky country. During 1777, he was
in service when the treaty was held at Long Island of Hol-
ston, and was much engaged, in 1778, in guarding the
frontiers. Early in 1779, he commanded a company on
Colonel Evan Shelby's Chickamauga expedition ; and early
in 1780, he was promoted to Major of the Washington regi-
ment, serving on the expedition against the Tories on New
river, and then on the King's Mountain campaign. At the
close of the year he joined Colonel William Campbell's
force, marching to the Long Island of Holston. He was
advanced to Lieutenant-Colonel in 1781, and in 1783 to a
full Colonel. During 1781 and 1782, he was much in ser-
vice in protecting the frontiers.

By two marriages — the second to a Miss Kennedy — he
had fifteen children, one son, born soon after the death of
his revered commander, he named General William Camp-
bell Edmondson. He lived to a good old age, dying July

404 KING 'S MO UNTAIN

thirtieth, 1822, in his eighty-ninth year. He was six feet,
two inches high, possessed a vigorous mind ; he was bold,
manly, open-hearted, and generous. His attachments
were strong, and his hatreds bitter. He served at one time
as Sheriff of the County, and for many years presided,
with great dignity, over the County Court. Judge Estill,
who knew him well, declared, that "few more gallant,
useful, and honorable men than Colonel Edmondson ever
lived in any country."

James Dysart was born in Donegal County, Ireland ;
his parents dying in his infancy, he was raised by his grand-
father, who gave him a plain education. At the age of
seventeen he sailed for the New World to seek his fortune,
landing, in 1761, at Philadelphia, from which he gradually
worked his way to the south-west, until he reached the Hol-
ston Valley. In 1770, he joined James Knox and others,
in exploring Tennessee and Kentucky, who are known in
history as the Long Hunters. In 1775, he married Nancy
Beattie, sister of Captain David Beattie, and settled on the
Little Holston. During the whole Revolutionary war he
was active in frontier service, heading his company ; and
at King's Mountain he was badly wounded in the left hand,
which crippled him for life. In 1781 he was made a Major,
and subsequently a Colonel ; and once represented Wash-
ington County in the Virginia Legislature. In his old age,
broken up by surety debts, he removed to Rockcastle
County, Kentucky, with his wife, three sons, and three
daughters; where he died, May twenty-sixth, 1818, at the
age of seventy-four years. He was fond of reading, and
had quite a library of books. When it was once suggested
to him that he must be lonesome at his frontier home — " I
am never lonesome," he replied, " when I have a good
book in my hand." He always spoke highly of Colonel
William Campbell as a brave man and able commander.
In 1806, he was placed on the invalid pension list, drawing
a hundred and twenty dollars a year.

AND ITS HEROES. 405

Another of Campbell's officers was Captain David Beat-
tie, son of John Beattie, born on Carr's creek, in now
Rockbridge County, Virginia, about 1752; and removed
with his parents to what is now Washington County, in
1772, settling at the present locality of the Glade Spring
Depot. He married Miss Mary Beattie, and raised four
sons and a daughter. The Beattie connection forted
against the Indians where the Glade Spring church is now
situated. Captain Beattie was much engaged in frontier
service, and led his company at King's Mountain — his
brothers John and William were also along. John Beattie,
an Ensign, was killed in the battle, leaving no family.
Captain Beattie died in the spring of 18 14. He was a man
of much energy of character. His brother, William Beat-
tie, survived till April fourth, i860, at the venerable age
of one hundred years — the last of Campbell's King's
Mountain men.

Captain Andrew Colvill, an early settler in the Holston
Valley, took an active part in the defence of the country.
He was, as early as 1776, commanding at Fort Black, and
the two following years he was ranging the frontiers, or
stationed at Moore's and Cowan's Forts, and distinguished
himself at King's Mountain. He died in the autumn
of 1797.

Few of the Holston pioneers were more serviceable
than Robert Craig. He commanded a company on Chris-
tian's Cherokee campaign in the fall of 1776; was much
engaged in the defence of the frontiers, and at King's
Mountain, where he fought bravely, losing his Lieutenant,
William Blackburn, and his Ensign, Nathaniel Dryden.
He survived the war.

Of Captain William Edmondson's career, who distin-
guished himself and lost his life at King's Mountain, we
have no further particulars ; nor of Captain William Neal,
who commanded the footmen in the rear, save that he rose
from the rank of ensign in 1777, and survived the war.

406 KING'S MO UNTAIN

Reece Bowen was born in Maryland about 1742. He
first emigrated to what is now Rockbridge County, Vir-
ginia, and, in 1769, to the waters of Clinch, in what is now
Tazewell County. He shared in the battle of Point Pleas-
ant; went to the relief of the Kentucky stations in 1778;
and on the King's Mountain campaign, he was Lieu-
tenant of his brother, William Bowen's company. His
brother being ill of fever, Reece Bowen succeeded to the
command of the company. His heroic death has been
already related ; he is said to have been shot by a Tory
boy, behind a baggage wagon, near the close of the
engagement, when Campbell's men were driving the
enemy toward the north-eastern end of the mountain.
He was remarkable for his herculean strength and great
activity. He left a family — his son, Colonel Henry Bowen,
lived in Tazewell County to a good old age.

Thomas McColloch had long been prominent among
the border men of Holston. Though only a Lieutenant,
he commanded a company at King's Mountain, and
was mortally wounded in the battle. He died while the
army was at Walker's, on their return march, the twelfth
of October, and was buried in Little Britain grave-yard.
On the rude stone at his grave is this inscription : " Here
lies the body of Lieutenant Thomas McColloch, belonging
to Colonel Campbell's Virginia regiment, who lost his life
in, and for the honorable, just, and righteous cause of
liberty, in defeating Colonel Ferguson's infamous company
of banditti, at King's Mountain, October seventh, 1780."

William Russell, Jr., who, though only a Lieutenant,
commanded Captain Neal's company at King's Mountain,
was born in Culpeper County, Virginia, in 1758. He was
chiefly raised on the south-western frontier of that State ;
and, in 1774? ne served on an expedition, in Powell's Val-
ley, under Daniel Boone, and was repeatedly in service
thereafter ; acting as Adjutant to Colonel Campbell at
King's Mountain, Whitzell's Mill, and Guilford. He

AND ITS HEROES. 407

afterwards removed to Kentucky, serving from 1791 to
1794, under Scott, Wilkinson, and Wayne, on their several
expeditions against the Indians ; and again, in north-west-
ern campaigns during the war of 181 2-15, having been
appointed to the command of a regiment in the regular
army in 1808. He rendered much service in civil life,
representing Fayette County, in the Virginia Legislature in
1789, and in the Kentucky Legislature thirteen sessions.
He was an unsuccessful candidate for Governor in 1824 ;
and died July third, 1825, about sixty-seven years of age.

The two Robert Edmondsons — of whom the elder was
killed, and the younger wounded, at King's Mountain —
were of Irish descent, and near kinsmen. Both were in
the battle of the Long Island Flats of Holston, July twen-
tieth, 1776, when some of the men retreated — young Robert
among them. The elder Robert Edmondson interposed, and
brought some of them into line, his young kinsman of the
number. The elder Edmondson chided the younger for
having used profane language during the engagement, for
which he was bound to report him to his father. The
young man retorted — " You, too, did the very same thing
wThen the men were on the flight." This accusation
shocked the good man, who was a strong Presbyterian, and
said this charge would be an additional matter to report to
the young man's father ; whereupon a by-stander mildly
said, " It's too true — I heard you." The old soldier, who
had unconsciously used rough language under high excite-
ment, now held his peace. He was a good soldier, and
killed two or three Indians at the Island Flat battle ; he
served on Christian's Cherokee expedition in the .fall of
1776; was engaged in frontier defense as a Lieutenant in
1777-8, and on Evan Shelby's Chickamauga expedition
in 1779.

At King's Mountain, the younger Edmondson was
Lieutenant of Beattie's company. He subsequently set-
tled at the Irish station, near Haysboro, seven or eight

408 KING '$ MO UNTAIN

miles above Nashville, on the Cumberland. In the fall of
1787, in a scrape with the Indians, at Neely's Bend, he
was badly wounded in the arm ; and it was eight years
after, when an ounce ball was extracted from the arm,
before he recovered. He died in 18 16, at the age of sixty-
three. Captain Andrew J. Edmondson, who served under
General Jackson in the Creek war, and at New Orleans,
was his son.

Samuel Newell was born in Frederick County, Vir-
ginia, November fourth, 1754, and his parents early settled
on the Holston. He engaged in the service against Tories
in April, 1776, and in the summer following shared in the
battle of Long Island Flats of Holston ; and the same year
was appointed a Sergeant in Captain Colvill's company, and
a Lieutenant in 1777 — serving several years on the fron-
tiers. In 1780, he took part in the expedition against the
Tories on New river, and then at King's Mountain, in Col-
vill's company, where he was badly wounded, from which
he never fully recovered. In December of the same year,
he went on Colonel Arthur Campbell's Cherokee expedi-
tion; and in 1781, was appointed a Captain. He was
much engaged in the protection of the Kentucky road and
Powell's Valley, and had several skirmishes with the In-
dians— twice, in 1782, overtaking war parties, in one of
which he and his men surrounded an Indian camp, and
his gun alone went off, the others failed, from becoming wet ;
but his single fire killed one Indian and mortally wounded
another. He early removed to French Broad river, in
Tennessee, where he figured among the promoters of the
Franklin Government, was a representative, in 1785, of
Sevier County in the Legislature, and also a member of
the Convention that formed the Franklin Constitution at
the close of that year ; was subsequently a Justice and a
Colonel of militia. In 1797, he removed to what is now
Pulaski County, Kentucky, where he was long presiding
Justice of the County Court; and about 1838 he removed to

AND ITS HEROES. 409

Montgomery County, Indiana, where he died September
twenty-first, 1841, at the age of nearly eighty-seven years.
He was six feet, one inch in height, of line presence, and
superior abilities. He left numerous descendants. In 181 2
he was placed on the invalid pension list, drawing, at first,
ninety-six, and subsequently increased to one hundred and
eight dollars a year, and still later to two hundred and
thirty-one dollars and ninety-three cents.

Andrew Kincannon, a native of the Valley of Virginia,
was born October twenty-seventh, 1744. He early settled
in the Holston country. He was a blacksmith and gunsmith
by trade, and claimed to have made the first horse-shoe in
Kentucky, probably in 1775. In February, 1777, he was
acting as armorer to the troops stationed at Long Island of
Holston; and that year he was appointed an Ensign, and
then a Lieutenant in Washington County, and stationed
at the Stone Mill on Deer Creek. At King's Moun-
tain, he succeeded to the command of his company,
when Captain Dysart was wounded, and was chosen
Captain in 1782. A few years after the war, he settled on
Tom's Creek, in Surry County, North Carolina, where he
had a fine farm and iron works. He married Catherine
McDonald ; they raised nine children, and left many de-
scendants. He was tall and muscular, of great integrity,
and high character. He died in November, 1829, at the
age of eighty-five years.

Robert Campbell, a younger brother of Colonel Arthur
Campbell, was born in Augusta County, Virginia, May 25,
1755, and emigrated to the Holston in 1771 ; serving in
Christian's regiment on the Shawanoe Campaign in 1774;
and was in the battle of Long Island Flats of Holston, in
July, 1776, where in advance of his fellows, he was mistaken
for an Indian, and came near losing his life, and when
within twenty paces of a warrior, who had discharged his
gun ineffectually at Campbell, the latter aimed at him in
turn, when the savage hero folded his arms, and met his

410 KING 'S MO UNTAW

fate with a dignity and firmness worthy of the brightest
days of chivalry. Seeing the Indians extending their lines
to surround the whites, Campbell gave the alarm in season
to counteract it. On Christian's Cherokee campaign, in
the fall of 1776, he was a volunteer; and on the march
to Highwassee, the troops forded French Broad river to their
waists and armpits, then bivouacked on the southern bank
during the greater part of a very cold night, without fire,
apprehending an attack from the Indians, and renewing
their march at the dawn of day, with shivering limbs, liter-
ally encased in ice. At King's Mountain, though only an
Ensign, he served conspicuously. In December following
he was Adjutant to his brother, Colonel Arthur Campbell,
on his Cherokee expedition, and at his own request, headed
a party of sixty men to destroy Chilhowee. Having accom-
plished this service, while returning, they had to pass a nar-
row defile, three hundred yards in extent, lined by two or
three hundred warriors ; and, without pausing, he directed
his men to follow him in single file, and charged through at
their best speed, without losing a man, though a heavy
volley was fired at them. He served a long period as a
Colonel of a regiment, and as a magistrate nearly forty
years, in Washington County ; then removed, in 1825, to
Knox County, Tennessee, where he died December twenty-
seventh, 1831, in the seventy-seventh year of his age.*

*Some writers have confounded Lieutenant-Colonel Richard Campbell with General
William Campbell. In a sketch of the latter, in the first edition of Appleton s Cyclopedia,
it is stated that he was mortally wounded at the battle of Eutaw Springs, September
eighth, 1781 ; and when told of the success of the American arms, died uttering the same
words as Wolfe had done before him, " 1 die contended " This was true of Richard
Campbell, also a native of the Virginia Valley, who was commissioned a Captain in
February, 1776, and subsequently a Major, serving in Colonel John Gibson's regiment at
Pittsburg. He served on Mcintosh's expedition against the Ohio Indians in 1778; and
leading a relief party to Fort Laurens, in June, 1779. ne commanded that frontier garrison
till its evacuation shortly after. Joining General Greene with a regiment of Virginia
regulars, he served with distinction at Guilford, Hobkirk's Hill and Ninety Six, sealing
with his life's blood his devotion to his country at Eutaw.

AND ITS HEROES. 411

CHAPTER XVIII.

Cols. Shelby and Sevier, and their Officers.

Notice of Evan Shelby. — Isaac Shelby s Life and Services. — Officers
. under him at King s Mountain — Evan Shelby, Jr. — Gilbert Chris-
tian— Moses Shelby — James Elliott — John Sawyers — George Max-
well, and George Rut ledge. — John Sevier s Life and Services. —
His Kings Mountain Officers — Jonathan Tipton — Valentine and
Robert Sevier — Christopher Taylor — Jacob Brown — Samuel Weir.

Evan Shelby, who was born in Wales in 1720, emi-
grated, with his father's family, to Maryland, about 1735,
settling near North Mountain, in now Washington County,
where he became a noted woodsman, hunter, and Indian
trader. He figured prominently on the Maryland and
Pennsylvania frontiers in the old French and Indian war —
first as a Lieutenant, and then as a Captain. On Forbes'
campaign, he gave chase to an Indian spy, in view of many
of the troops, overtaking and tomahawking him. He sub-
sequently distinguished himself at Point Pleasant, on Chris-
tian's campaign, and on the expedition he led against the
Chickamaugas. Rising to the rank of Colonel, and then
General, he died December fourth, 1794, at the age of
seventy-four years.

His son, Isaac Shelby, was born near the North Moun-
tain, Maryland, on the eleventh of December, 1750, where
amid the excitements of the Indian wars, he obtained only
the elements of a plain English education. In 1 771, he was
for some time engaged in feeding and herding cattle in the
extensive natural ranges west of the Alleghanies ; and in
the same year, the Shelby connection removed to the Hols-
ton country. In 1774, when the Indians became trouble-
some, Isaac Shelby received the commission of a Lieuten-

412 . KING'S MO UNTAIN

ant in the militia at the hands of Colonel William Preston,
the County Lieutenant of Fincastle, and took his seat ;
when his father, who was present, thinking his son had not
shown proper respect in the matter, said to him : " Get up,
you dog you, and make your obeisance to the Colonel " —
whereupon the youthful officer arose, somewhat abashed, and
made the amende honorable. He served with distinction, as
second in command of his father's company, in the memor-
able battle of Point Pleasant, October tenth, 1774, where the
frontier riflemen fought the Shawanoes and allied tribes from
sunrise till sundown, gaining a decisive victory. Point Pleas-
ant was then made a garrison, where he remained in service
till July, 1775, when Governor Dunmore ordered the dis-
bandment of those troops, lest they might sympathize with,
and become obedient to the Whig authorities.

He was now, for nearly twelve months, engaged in ex-
ploring the wilds of Kentucky, and in surveying lands for
Henderson and Compan}^, who had made a large purchase
from the Cherokees. During his absence in 1776, he was
commissioned a Captain ; and, in 1777, Governor Henry ap-
pointed him a Commissary of supplies for the several frontier
garrisons, and for the ensuing treaty with the Cherokees at
the Long Island of Holston in that year. It was only by his
most indefatigable exertions that the large amount of pro-
visions required, could be obtained. The following year he
continued his Commissary services, providing for the Con-
tinental army, and for General Mcintosh's expedition against
the Ohio Indians. In the spring of 1779, he pledged his
individual credit for supplies for his father's troops on the
Chickamauga expedition. He was, this spring, elected a
member of the Virginia Legislature from Washington
County ; and, in the fall, he was commissioned a Major by
Governor Jefferson for the escort of guards to the Commis-
sioners for extending the boundary line between Virginia
and North Carolina. His residence was now found to be
within the limits of the latter State, and he was, in Novem-

AND ITS HEROES. 413

ber of this year, appointed by Governor Caswell a Colonel
and magistrate of the new County of Sullivan, entering
upon their duties at the organization of the County in
Februanr following.

In the the summer of 1780, Colonel Shelby was in Ken-
tucky, perfecting his claims to lands he had five years before
selected and marked out for himself, when the intelligence
of the surrender of Charleston reached that country. He
returned home in July, determined to enter the service,
and remain in it until independence should be secured.
He found a message from Colonel Charles McDowell, of
Burke County, begging him to furnish all the aid he could to-
wards checking the enemy, who were over-running the
three Southern States, and had reached the western borders
of North Carolina. In a few days, he crossed the Allegha-
nies with two hundred mounted riflemen. Their valor and
patriotism were shown conspicuously at Thicketty Fort,
Cedar Springs and Musgrove's Mill ; re-assuring the strug-
gling patriots that the British leaders could not ride, rough-
shod, over the American people. Shelby's noble efforts
in prosecuting the King's Mountain expedition, his magna-
nimity in securing the appointment of Colonel Campbell to
the chief command, and his heroic conduct in the battle, all
combine to render his services, at that critical period, of
the greatest importance to his country.

The Legislature of North Carolina passed a vote of thanks
to Colonels Shelby and Sevier for their good services, direct-
ing that an elegant sword should be presented to each of
them. General Greene wrote urgently requesting Col.
Shelby to join him with a body of mountaineers, which
letter miscarried ; but a second message was more fortunate,
and Shelby and Sevier led five hundred mounted riflemen
over the mountains joining General Greene, about the first
of November. Shelby was detached with Colonel Maham
in an attempt on the British post of Fairlawn, at Colleton's
plantation, a few miles from Monk's Corner. When a flag

414 KING yS MO UNTAIN

was sent in, demanding its surrender, the British officer in
command returned for answer, that he would defend it
to the last extremity. Shelby then went himself, assuring
the commandant that should he be so fool-hardy as to suffer
a storm, every soul would be put to death, as he had under
his command several hundred mountaineers who would
rush in, tomahawk in hand, upon the garrison. The officer
then inquired if he had any cannon. " Yes, indeed," said
Shelby, " guns that will blow you to atoms in a moment."
" Then," replied the officer, " I suppose I must surrender,"
which he did — one hundred and five prisoners, with three
hundred stand of arms. Shelby shortly after obtained leave
of absence, to attend the North Carolina Legislature, of
which he was a member. Soon after the mountaineers
returned home — not deserters as Judge Johnson describes
them, for the call upon them was for a special service — to
aid in intercepting Cornwallis ; who, having been effectually
intercepted at Yorktown, they felt that they had fulfilled all
that could reasonably be required of them, and retired
to their homes, in a deep snow, early in January ensuing.*
The Legislature of North Carolina soon adjourned, and
Colonel Shelby returning to the Holston, was engaged dur-
ing spring in preparing for an expedition against the Chick-
amauga band of Cherokees, and the hostile Creeks at the
sources of the Mobile, in which enterprise he was to have
been joined by two hundred men from Washington County,
Virginia ; but on account of the poverty of that State, the
authorities discouraged the scheme, and reaching Big Creek,
thirty miles below Long Island of Holston, the expedition
was relinquished. He was, in 1782, again chosen a member
of the North Carolina Assembly, and was appointed one of
the Commissioners to adjust preemption claims on Cumber-
land river, and lay off the lands allotted to the officers and

* Haywood's History of Tennessee, 102-106; Todd's Life of Shelby ; MS. statement of
Gov. Shelby, apparently addressed to Judge Johnson, controverting his statements about
the pretended desertion of the mountaineers; MS. notes of conversations with James
Sevier, who was in the service, and with Col. George Wilson.

AND ITS HEROES. 415

soldiers of the North Carolina line, which service he per-
formed in the winter of 1782-83. In April following, he
was married at Boonesborough, Kentucky, to Susanna,
daughter of Captain Nathaniel Hart, one of the pioneers of
the country, and now settled on his preemption near Stan-
ford, where he continued to reside for forty-three years.

In January, 1783, Colonel Shelby having been appointed
by Governor Harrison and the Council of Virginia, one
of the Commissioners to hold treaties with the Western
Indians, a conference was held at Long Island of Hol-
ston with the Cherokees in July, but nothing of mo-
ment was accomplished. The proposed treaty with the
Shawnees miscarried ; and only Colonels Donelson and
Martin met the Chickasaws at French Lick, on Cumber-
land, in November, and interchanged friendly talks with
them. For several years Indian disturbances continued,
the Cherokees waylaying the Kentucky road, and inflict-
ing much injury7 on the travelers to that country. The
Kentucky people resolved to march in strong force
against Chickamauga, and could only be restrained, in the
summer of 1791, in view of an approaching treaty at
Knoxville. Colonel Shelby attended — the Indians were
surly, when he frankly told them, that there were a thousand
riflemen in Kentucky, with their horses all shod, ready
to march against them. "Too many — too many," said
the Cherokees, and they patched up a temporary peace.

• He was a member of the early Conventions held at
Danville to secure a separation from Virginia, and of the
Convention, in April, 1792, that formed the first Constitution
of Kentucky. In May following, he was chosen the first
Governor of the new State ; and during his four years' term
he proved a model Chief Magistrate, lending every aid in
his power in supplying troops for quelling the Indian war in
the North-west. He was three times chosen an elector,
supporting Thomas Jefferson for President; and when the
second war with Great Britain burst upon the country, he

416 KING 'S MO UNTAIN

consented again to serve as Governor, exerting every influ-
ence in sustaining the Government, and bringing the con-
flict to an honorable issue. The revival of the war spirit
reminded North Carolina of its ancient pledge of a sword
to Governor Shelby for his King's Mountain services, and
it was presented to him in 1813 ; and he led the Kentucky
troops, the same year, on the Canada campaign, which
closed with the victory of the Thames. For this patriotic
service, Congress, in 18 17, voted him a gold medal. In
1818, he was appointed, by President Monroe, Secretary
of War ; but, at his advanced age, preferring the quiet of
private life, he declined its acceptance. In 1818, he was
associated with General Jackson in holding a treaty with
the Chickasaws, which resulted in the cession of their
lands west of the Tennessee to the General Government —
his last public service. He was stricken with paralysis in
1820, disabling his right arm and limb ; but his mind con-
tinued unimpaired until July eighteenth, 1826, when he
died of apoplexy, sitting in his chair — with only his vener-
able companion present, as he had often expressed his wish
that it should be. The noble patriot of three wars thus
quietly passed away, in the seventy-sixth year of his age.

Evan Shelby, Jr., who acted as Major in his brother's
regiment at King's Mountain, was born in Maryland about
1754. He was a Lieutenant on Christian's campaign of
1776. Beside his participation in the King's Mountain
expedition, he served as a volunteer at the Cowpens ; and,
near the close of 178 1, with his brother Isaac in South Caro-
lina. Left on one occasion, with three or four men, to
guard quite a squad of horses on an island, a British party
of some ninety men came and took the horses ; Shelby and
his associates escaping. But they dogged the enemy until
they camped in a lane, when, leaving one of their number
behind some distance with a horn which he was directed, at
the proper time, to blow furiously, Shelby and the others

AND ITS HEROES. 417

made a bold push on the camp, hallooing " surround ! sur-
round them !" This, with the horn, indicating a charge,
some of the enemy began to fall back, when the horses,
becoming frightened, ran at full speed over the Red-Coats,
materially aiding in the stampede. The Whigs killed sev-
eral of the skedaddlers. Manying his cousin, Catharine,
daughter of Major John Shelby he settled a station about
1790, pretty well up the West Fork of Red river, some fifty
miles north-west of Nashville. On the eighteenth of
January, 1793, when out hunting, at the mouth of Casey's
creek of Little river, in the eastern part of the present county
of Trigg, Kentucky, he, with two companions, was killed
by hostile Indians — his brother, Moses escaping unhurt.

Gilbert Christian, son of Robert Christian, was born in
Augusta County, Va., about 1734, and participated in the
border wars of 1755-63. Settling in the Holston country,
he commanded a company on Christian's Cherokee cam-
paign, the Chickamauga expedition, and at King's Moun-
tain. He served as a Major on Arthur Campbell's expedi-
tion, figured prominently in the Franklin Republic, and
acted as a Colonel during the Cherokee war of 1788 till
his death, at Knoxville, in November 1793, when returning
from the Hightower campaign.

Moses Shelby, born about 1756, was severely wounded at
the head of his company at King's Mountain. He served at
the siege of Savannah in 1779, at Cowpens, and the capture
of Augusta, in 1781 — on one of which occasions he received
six sabre wounds. After the Indian wars, he settled near
New Madrid, Missouri, where he died September seven-
teenth, 1828, about seventy-two years of age.

James Elliott was an early settler on Holston. From an
Ensign in 1777, he rose by good service to the rank of Cap-
tain, commanding his company at King's Mountain ; and
while serving on Colonel Arthur Campbell's Cherokee expe-
pedition, he was killed atTellico, December twenty-eighth,
1780, by a concealed Indian — Colonel Campbell denominat-
ing him " a gallant young officer."

418 KING 'S MO UNTAIN

John Sawyers was born in Virginia in 1745, shortly after
his parents arrived from England, who early settled in
Augusta County, Virginia. In. 1 761 young Sawyers was
engaged on Colonel Byrd's abortive expedition, and in other
frontier service against the Indians. In 1768, he with others
explored the Holston Valley, early removed to that frontier,
and served at Point Pleasant, on Christian's Cherokee cam-
paign, and on the Chickamauga expedition in 1779, and led
a company at King's Mountain. Settling in what is now
Knox County, Tennessee, he was made a Major, then a
Colonel, and twice chosen a member of the Legislature.
He died November twentieth, 1831, aged eighty-six years.

George Maxwell born in Virginia, 1751 , early migrated
to the Holston, A Lieutenant in 1777, he was much en-
gaged in frontier service, commanding a company at King's
Mountain. On the organization of Sullivan County, Ten-
nessee, in 1780, he was made one of the Justices ; in 1784,
a Major ; the next year a Colonel, and member of the
Assembly of the short-lived Republic of Franklin ; in 1787,
a member of the North Carolina Legislature; in 1799? a
member of the Tennessee Senate from Hawkins county,
where he died November twenty-third, 1822, in his seventy-
second year. Of his associates, Captain John Pemberton,
and Captain Webb, we have no knowledge.

Col. John Sevier and his Officers.
Near the close of the seventeenth century, the grand-
father of the subject of this sketch fled from his native Paris,
on account of religious persecution, and settled in London.
The family name of Xavier was now Anglicized to Sevier.
Here he married a Miss Smith, and had two sons, Val-
entine and William, who, when scarcely grown, ran away,
and took passage for America. This was not far from 1 740.
Among their fellow-passengers were several young men of
a wild and sporting character, from whom Valentine Sevier
acquired habits of gambling and dissipation. Landing at

AND ITS HEROES. 419

Baltimore, he subsequently married a Miss Joanna Goade,
and settled in then Augusta, now Rockingham County, in
the Valley of Virginia, six miles south-west of where the
little village of New Market was subsequently located.
Here he opened a farm, and carried on trade with the Indians,
and here John Sevier was born, September twenty-third,
1745. After the Indian war of 1755 broke out, the family
removed for safety to Fredericksburg, where they remained
nearly two years, and where young Sevier attended school.

Returning to his old home in the Valley, Valentine
Sevier found his domicil had been burned b}' the Indians.
The cabins were re-built, and trade re-commenced. John
Sevier was sent to Staunton to school ; and while there, he
one day accidentally fell into a mill-race, and was saved
from drowning by the heroic efforts of two young ladies —
one of whom subsequently became the wife of George Mat-
thews, one of the heroes of Point Pleasant, and subsequently
a Colonel in the Revolution, and Governor of Georgia. He
now engaged with his father in trade ; and, in 1761, before
he had turned of seventeen, he married Miss Sarah Haw-
kins, cleared up a farm, and engaged in excursions against
the Indians — on one occasion, he and his party narrowly
escaping a fatal ambuscade by a timely discovery of the trap
their enemies had set for them. He laid out the village of
New Market, and there for some time he kept a store and
inn, and carried on a farm ; and then engaged in merchan-
dizing in the neighboring village of Middletown.

About 1 771, he visited the Holston country, carrying some
goods with him for trade, and repeated the visit in 1772.
At the Watauga Old Fields, on Doe river, near its junction
with the Watauga, he witnessed a horse-race, where a large,
savage fellow, named Shoate, took from a traveling stran-
ger his horse, pretending that he had won him in a bet.
Such an act disgusted Sevier with the country, naturally
beautiful; but the elder Evan Shelby remarked: "Never
mind these rascals: they'll soon take poplar" — meaning

420 KING >S MO UNTAIN

canoes, and put off. This Shoate became a noted horse-thief,
and was pursued and killed about 1779-80. Late in 1773,
John Sevier removed his family to the Holston country, and
first located in the Keywood settlement, on the north shore of
Holston, half a dozen miles from the Shelbys. Before his
removal from Virginia, he had been commissioned a Cap-
tain by Governor Dunmore.

He was at Watauga Fort when attacked, July twenty-
first, 1776. At day-break, when there were a large num-
ber of people gathered there, and the women were out-side
milking the cows, a large body of Cherokees fired on the
milkers ; but they all fortunately escaped to the fort, the
gates of which were thrown open for their reception.
Among the young girls thus engaged was Catharine
Sherrill, who, when she reached the gate, found it shut ; but
equal to the emergency, she threw her bonnet over the
pickets, and then clambered over herself, and, as she jumped
within, was caught in the arms of John Sevier — her future
husband. A warm attack on the fort ensued, during which
Captain Sevier thought he killed one of the Indians. A
man stole out of the stockade at night, went to the Holston,
when a large party marched to the relief of the beleaguered
garrison. It was because the people refused to join and co-
operate with the enemies of their country, that the savages
were instigated to murder them, destroy their crops and
improvements, and drive off their cattle and horses.

John Sevier was among the foremost in the defence of the
Watauga and Nolachucky settlements. He had been
elected Clerk of the first self-constituted court in 1775 ; and,
in 1776, he was chosen one of the representatives of the
united settlements to the North Carolina Convention at Hali-
fax, and took his seat, securing the establishment of the dis-
trict of Washington. Hastening back home, he reached
there in season to serve on Christian's expedition against
the Cherokees at the head of a fine company of riflemen ;
and also, at Colonel Christian's request, he acted as a spy

AND ITS HEROES. 421

during the campaign. He continued his services, till the con-
clusion of the treaty at Long Island of Holston in July,
1777. In the fall of that year, he was appointed Lieuten-
ant-Colonel for Washington County. During the period
1777-79, the Indians, Tories and horse-thieves required Col-
onel Sevier's constant vigilance. In the summer of 1780,
he was left in defence of the settlements, while Major
Charles Robertson led the Watauga troops on the campaign
in South Carolina. During their absence, August four-
teenth, having some time previously lost his wife, he was
married to Miss Catharine Sherrill.

His gallant services at King's Mountain cannot be too
highly extolled. December sixteenth following, he defeated
the Cherokees at Boyd's creek, killing thirteen, and taking
all their baggage, and then joined Colonel Arthur Campbell
on an expedition against the hostile Indian towns. On the
third of February, 1781, he was made a full Colonel ; and
in March, he led a successful foray against the Middle
Cherokee Settlements, killing about thirty of their warriors,
capturing nine prisoners, burning six towns, and bringing
off about two hundred horses.

" What time from right to left there rang the Indian war-whoop wild,
Where Sevier's tall Watauga boys through the dim dells defiled."

Having, in February, been appointed by General Greene
one of the Commissioners to hold a treaty with the Indians,
a conference took place with the Cherokees at the Long
Island of Holston in July, Colonel Sevier and Major Martin
attending, but without any permanent results. In the
autumn of this year, Colonel Sevier served under Generals
Greene and Marion in South Carolina; and, in 1782, he
carried on a campaign against the Cherokees.

In November, 1784, he was appointed Brigadier-Gen-
eral, which he declined because of his leadership in the effort
to establish the republic of Franklin. During the period of
1784 to 1788, he was made its Governor and defender. He
was apprehended by the North Carolina authorities, on a

422 KING'S MOUNTAIN

charge of rebellion against the State, and conveyed to Mor-
ganton, where he was rescued by a party of his friends ; and
returning home, " Chucky Jack " led a campaign against
the Indians. As the East Tennesseans were divided in sen-
timent, the Franklin Republic, after a turbulent career of
some four years, ceased to exist. In 1789, General Sevier
was chosen a member of the Legislature of North Carolina,
when an act of oblivion was passed, and he was re-instated
as Brigadier-General. In 1790-91, he was elected to repre-
sent the East Tennessee district of North Carolina in Con-
gress. When Tennessee was organized into a Territory,
he was appointed by President Washington a Brigadier-
General in the militia ; and he continued to protect the
frontier settlements, carrying on the Hightower campaign
against the Cherokees in 1793. In 1798, he was made a
General in the Provisional army.

On the organization of a State Government in 1796,
General Sevier was chosen the first Governor, and by suc-
cessive re-elections was continued in that office till 1801.
In 1802, he served as a Commissioner in running the bound-
ary line between Tennessee and Virginia. He again served
as Governor from 1803 till 1809, and then a term in the
State Senate. He was chosen to a seat in Congress in
181 1, serving, during the war, on the important com-
mittee on military affairs, till 181 5 ; when' President Madi-
son appointed him one of the Commissioners, to ascertain
the boundary of the Creek territory, and died while on that
service, in camp, on the east side of the Tallapoosa, near
Fort Decatur, Alabama, September twenty-fourth, i8jflj£,
closing a busy, useful life at the age of seventy years. As
a proof of the love and veneration of his neighbors and
friends, while absent in the Creek country, they had again
elected him to Congress without opposition. In the language
of the distinguished Hugh L. White, who had served
under him in the old Indian wars: "General Sevier was
considered in his day, among the most gallant, patriotic,
and useful men in the country where he lived." *

AND ITS HEROES. 423

Jonathan Tipton was born in Frederick County, Virginia,
in 1750. Early settling in what became Washington
County, East Tennessee, he was, in February, 1777, made
Major, and was engaged in guarding the frontiers ; and in
1780, had a fight with the Indians at the mouth of Flat creek,
on Nolachucky. He was second in command of Sevier's
regiment at King's Mountain ; and then served on Arthur
Campbell's campaign, leading a detachment against Telas-
see and Chilhowee. In the fall of 1781, he went on service
with Colonels Shelby and Sevier under General Greene, in
South Carolina. Major Tipton died in Overton County,
Tennessee, January eighteenth, 1833, in his eighty-third
year.

Valentine Sevier was born in what is now Rockingham
County, Virginia, about 1747, and settled at an early period
in East Tennessee. He was a Sergeant, and one of the
spies, at the battle of Point Pleasant, where, says Isaac
Shelby, "he was distinguished for vigilance, activity, and
bravery." He subsequently served in the Indian wars in
East Tennessee, and commanded a company at Thicketty
Fort, Cedar Springs, Musgrove's Mill, and King's Moun-
tain. He was the first Sheriff of Washington County, a
Justice of the court, and rose in the militia to the rank of a
Colonel. He removed to the mouth of Red river on Cumber-
land, now Clarksville, where he was attacked by Indians,
November eleventh, 1794, killing and wounding several
of his family. After long suffering from chronic rheu-
matism, he died at Clarksville, February twenty-third,
1800, in his fifty-third year ; his widow surviving till 1844
in her one hundred and first year, His younger brother,
Robert Sevier, who also commanded a company at King's
Mountain, and was mortally wounded in the conflict, was
previously much engaged in ridding the Watauga and Nola-
chucky region of Tories and horse thieves.

Christopher Taylor was born in Bedford County, Vir-

* MS. letter to the author, April 6th, 1839.

424 KING 'S MO UNTAIN

ginia, in 1746, and early removed, with a young family,
to East Tennessee. He served on Christian's campaign ;
he was chosen a Captain, in 1778, and ranged the frontiers,
serving in 1780, at King's Mountain, and subsequently
against the Indians. He was a member of the Jonesborough
convention in 1784, and died in Washington County, Ten-
nessee, September tenth, 1833, at the age of eighty-seven.

Jacob Brown was born in South Carolina, December
eleventh, 1736; settled on Nolachucky, in 1772, purchas-
ing lands of the Cherokees. He served in the Indian
wars, at the head of his company in Sevier's regiment
at King's Mountain, and then on Arthur Campbell's
expedition. He was made a Major, defeated a party
of Indians in the fall of 1781, and died, June twenty-eighth,
1785, from an accidental wound received while out hunting.

Samuel Weir was another of Sevier's Captains at King's
Mountain. He was an active participant in the Franklin
Republic movement ; led a party, in 1793, against Telassee,
killing sixteen Indians, and taking four prisoners. In 1793
and 1794, he was a member of the Territorial Legislature,
and, in 1796, a member of the Convention that formed the
Constitution of Tennessee. He served many years as
clerk of Sevier County court ; and lived to a good old
age. He was fully six feet in height, dark complexioned,
and possessed much energy of character.

Other Captains of Sevier's regiment at King's Moun-
tain were Samuel Williams, a member of the Jonesborough
Convention of 1784, and a representative of Carter County,
in the Legislature in 1799 > James Stinson, Jesse Beene, and
Thomas Price, who were much engaged against the Chero-
kees. George Russell, Joel Callahan, Isaac Lane, Andrew
Caruthers, and William Robinson, were probably all
Lieutenants. Caruthers, a native of Ireland, died in Lin-
coln County, Tenn., in 1818 ; and Robinson, a native of
Scotland, was among the defeated Regulators at Alamance,
in May, 1771 , and lived to advanced years, dying also in
Lincoln County.

AND ITS HEROES. 425

CHAPTER XIX.

Col. Ben. Cleveland, Maj. Joseph Winston and their

Officers.

Cleveland 's Ancestry. — His Early Life and Hunting Adventures. —
Trip to Kentucky. — Elk Hunt and Narrow Escapes. — Revolution-
ary War. — Suppressing Scotch Tories. — Rutherford 's Cherokee
Campaign. — Marches to Watauga. — Appointed Colonel. — Serves in
Georgia. — New River Scout. — King s Mountain. — Hangs Coyle
and Brown. — Captured by Tories and his Rescue. — Riddle and
Wells Hung. — Other Tory Brigands Taken — Nichols, Tate, and
Harrison. — Thumbing the Notch. — Reforming Tories. — Removes to
Tugalo. — Hangs Dinkins. — Appointed Judge. — Anecdote. — Great
Size, Death, and Character.

Major Joseph Winston Noticed.— Ben. Herndon.—Micajah and Joel
Lewis. — Robert and John Cleveland. — Jesse Franklin. — William
I^enoir — John Barton — William Meredith, and Minor Smith. —
John Brown and Samuel Johnson. — David and John Wither-
spoon. — Jo. Herndon, Richard Allen, and Elisha Reynolds.

A beauty of the time of Charles the First — so runs the
story — named Elizabeth Cleveland, a daughter of an officer
of the palace of Hampton Court, attracted the attention of
her sovereign, and an amour was the result. When Oliver
Cromwell became the rising star of the empire, the same
charms won his sympathies, and a son was born unto them.
The mother retired from the public gaze, and subse-
quently married a Mr. Bridge. When this wild colt of a
son grew up, he took his mother's name and was the
reputed author of a book — " The Life and Adventures of
Mr. Cromwell, Natural son of Oliver Cromwell" pub-
lished after his death, by consent of his son, first in 1731, a
second edition, with a French translation in 1741, and yet
another edition in 1760.

426 KING 'S MO UNTAIN

The perusal of this work, more than thirty years ago,
left on the mind of the writer the strong conviction that it
was a romance, and a recent re-examination of it confirms
that opinion. Noble, in his learned production on the
Cromwell Family, published nearly a century since,
declares that these pretended Adventures are "too marvel-
ous to be true ;'' and a writer in Notes and J^iceries, in
1856, states that from u the extraordinary adventures related
in it," he "considers it a fictitious narrative/' Whether
or not this work is a romance, or records a series of facts
more wonderful than fiction, it is nevertheless true, that
Colonel Benjamin Cleveland had a copy of it, to which he
used to point with no little pride, claiming his descent
through this " Mr. Cleveland," from the illustrious Oliver
Cromwell. Others of the Cleveland connection made the
same claim.

While Noble, Guizot, and other writers on Cromwell,
agree that the renowned Protector, with all his religious
seeming, "probably had natural children," yet it is ex-
ceedingly doubtful if our King's Mountain hero descended
from any such questionable origin. History informs us,
that the Clevelands were an ancient family, deriving their
name from a tract of country in the North Riding of York-
shire, England, still called Cleveland. Tradition designates
Alexander Cleveland, Sr. and Jr. ; and that John Cleve-
land, with his father, the younger Alexander Cleveland,
early migrated to Virginia, and married a Miss Martha
Coffee. He settled on the since famous Bull Run, in
Prince William County, where he engaged in the employ-
ment of a house-joiner. His son, Benjamin Cleveland, the
subject of this sketch, was born there May twenty-sixth,
1738; and while yet very young, his father removed some
sixty miles to the south-west, locating in a border settle-
ment on Blue Run, some six or eight miles above its
junction with the Rapidan, in Orange County, near the line
of Albemarle. Not only young Cleveland's parents, but

AND ITS HEROES. 427

his grandfather Cleveland and wife also settled on Blue
Run; the latter couple dying there, about 1770, within
three days of each other, when about a hundred years
old * ; and here his parents lived and died at a good old age.

When about twelve years old, and his parents were both
absent, some drunken rowdies called at the house, and
began to throw the stools into the fire. Little Ben, satisiied
what his father would do were he at home, snatched the
old man's rifle from its hooks, and simply said, " gentle-
men, do you see this?" They saw it, and the youth's
determined attitude, which led them to think discretion the
better part of valor, when one of the party said to his
fellows : " We'd better be off; we don't know what this
excited child might do." So the brave lad put the lawless
drunkards to flight, and saved his father's property.

Nor was it inebriates alone that young Cleveland early
learned to vanquish. Like Nimrod of old, he became u a
mighty hunter ; " and, like Daniel Boone, he had an uncon-
querable aversion to the tame drudgery of farm life, as he
regarded it. He spent much of his time from early youth
in the wilderness, securing pelts and furs, which found a
ready market. The heads of the Dan, Staunton and Pig
rivers, in the region that subsequently became Pittsylvania
County, was a favorite resort for hunters, and here young
Cleveland reaped his forest harvests. Fire hunting, at
that day, was a very common mode of entrapping the deer
in warm weather, when they repaired to particular localities
at night in shallow streams, where they could find succulent
food, and be less exposed to tormenting insects. The
torchlights of the hunters would so dazzle the fated deer's

*This fact is given on the authority of Maj. John Redd, of Henry County, Va., to the
writer in 1849, wno was born in Orange County, Va., in 1755, and personally knew these
old people. If then. Alexander Cleveland, the younger, who died about 1770, was a hun-
dred years old, he must have been botn about 1670 — only seventeen years after Cromwell
became Protector. This would seem to spoil the story of descent from Oliver Cromwell
through the pretended "Mr. Cromwell"; and that he must have descended from
Alexander Cleveland, Sr., whose birth evidently was considerably anterior to the time of
the Protectorate.

428 KING'S MOUNTAIN

attention, that he would stand in amazement watching the
strange light, while the wary hunter had only to blaze away
at its glaring eyes, and bring down the stupid animal.

There was an old Dutchman in that region who had a
good stand for fire-hunting, and young Cleveland concluded
he would scare him out of it. Pealing some bark from a
tree, he placed it in the water so as to represent a counterfeit
deer. The next night, he hid himself near by where he could
watch operations. In due time, the Dutch hunter made his
appearance — fired on the supposed deer, without apparently
bringing him down ; then repeated his shot, and still the
deer remained unmoved. The Dutchman now becoming
alarmed, exclaimed, " Its de duy-vil ;" and quickly aband-
oned that hunting ground — Cleveland chuckling not a little
over the success of his stratagem.

At length young Cleveland married, in Orange County,
Miss Mary Graves — of an excellent family, whose father
was in quite comfortable circumstances. Tradition tells us
that Cleveland took an active part in the French and Indian
war ; but the particulars are lost to history. He, no doubt,
in that border conflict became initiated into military life,
which proved a preparatory school for his Revolutionary
services. But his marriage did not reform his idle and
reckless habits. He still loved gaming, horse-racing, and
the wild frolicking common on the frontiers. In company
with Joseph Martin — afterwards General Martin — he put in
a field of wheat on Pig river, about the year 1767, where he
settled some four years before ; but they were too indolent
to fence it properly. When harvest time came, there was
something of a crop. As was the custom of the times, they
invited their friends to join them in cutting the grain ; for
which hilarious occasion some liquor and a fiddler were
provided, and a good time was necessary before entering
upon the work, which ended in a debauch, and the grain
was never harvested.

To break away from such habits and associations,

AND ITS HEROES. 429

Cleveland, about 1769, removed, with his father-in-law and
family, to North Carolina, and settled, near the foot of the
Blue Ridge, on the waters of Roaring Creek, a northern
affluent of the Yadkin, in what was then Rowan, afterwards
Surry, and a few years later Wilkes County. Here Cleve-
land, with the aid of Mr. Graves' servants, opened a farm,
raised stock, and devoted much of his time to hunting. At
some subsequent period, he located on the noted tract, on
the northern bank of the Yadkin, fifteen miles below
Wilkesboro, known as the Round About — taking its name
from the horse-shoe shape of the land, nearly surrounded
by the river.

From Daniel Boone, who was among the earliest
of the pioneers of the Yadkin Valley, Cleveland learned
of the Kentucky country — that land of cane and pea-vine,
abounding with deer and buffalo. Its wild charms, its rich
lands, and its teeming game, rendered it the hunter's para-
dise. Such attractions as these Cleveland could not resist.
In the summer of about 1772, in company with Jesse
Walton, Jesse Bond, Edward Rice, and William High-
tower, he set out on a trip of hunting and exploration, in
quest of the beautiful land of Kentucky. When they had
safely passed Cumberland Gap, and entered upon the
borders of the famous hunting grounds, with cheerful hopes
and glowing prospects, they were unexpectedly met and
plundered by a party of Cherokees, of all their guns, horses,
peltry, and every thing they possessed, even to their hats
and shoes. A poor old shot gun wras given in turn, with
a couple of charges of powder and shot, when they were
threateningly ordered to leave the Indian hunting-grounds.
They had no alternative. On their way home, they hus-
banded their ammunition as long as possible ; with one of
the charges they killed a small deer — the other was spent
ineffectually. They had the good fortune to catch a broken-
winged wild goose, and eventually had to kill their faith-
ful little hunting dog, greatly to their regret ; and Cleve-

430 KING 'S MO UNTAIN

land, in after years, used to say that this dog was tame,
under the circumstances, the sweetest animal food he ever
ate. With this scanty supply, and a few berries, they
managed to hold out till they reached the settlements, but
in a nearly famished condition.

Several months afterwards, Cleveland made up a party
of chosen men — among whom was William Hightower,
who wended their way to the Cherokee towns, determined
to recover the horses that had been taken from them. From
some circumstance not now known, Hightower gave name
to the Hightower or Etowah river. Cleveland applied to
a noted Cherokee chief, known among the whites as Big
Bear, who replied that the Indians who had his horses
would be likely to kill him as soon as they should learn the
object of his mission ; but, he added by way of compliment,
"if you were to be killed, I should claim that honor, as
one big warrior ought only to be slain by another." Big
Bear sent an escort with Cleveland to the several towns to
aid him in reclaiming his property. He succeeded without
much difficulty, except in the last case. The Indian having
the horse, showed fight, raised his tomahawk, and Cleve-
land cocked his rifle, when his friendly escort interposed,
and saved their red brother from a fatal shot, by throwing
him to the ground ; but not before he had hurled his battle-
axe at his antagonist, which happily did no other harm
than cutting away a part of the bosom of Cleveland's hunting
shirt. Then Cleveland, at the instance of his Indian guides,
mounted his newly recovered horse, which was at hand, and
was riding away, when a ball from the rifle of the enraged
Cherokee, wounded the animal, but not seriously. Return-
ing to Big Bear's village, that chief increased the guard ; and
Cleveland and party retired with their horses in triumph.
On their way back to North Carolina, they went by the Tu-
galo country, which greatly attracted Cleveland's attention.

Reuben Stringer was a noted woodsman of the Upper
Yadkin Valley, and was often Cleveland's associate in his

AND ITS HEROES. 431

hunting adventures. They took an elk hunt together, in
the month of August, when these animals were in their
prime The elk were large, and very wild, and gradually
retired before the advancing settlements. A few years
anterior to the Revolutionary war, they were yet to be found
at the foot of the mountain ranges on the heads of New
river. Pursuing a wounded elk, Cleveland in attempting to
intercept him at a rocky point of the river, where he ex-
pected the animal would cross the stream, found himself sur-
rounded by a large number of rattle-snakes, coiled, hissing,
and fearfully sounding their alarm rattles on every hand.
From this dangerous dilemma, his only deliverance seemed
to be an instantaneous plunge into the river, which he made
without a moment's hesitation, and thus probably escaped a
horrid death.

While Stringer was busy one day in preparing a fire for
cooking some of their wild meat for a repast, Cleveland
spread his blanket on the ground, beneath a cluster of large
white oaks, to rest himself, and soon fell asleep. In a few
moments he suddenly awakened, in a startled condition —
why, he could not tell — and, casting his eyes into the tree-
tops above, he discovered a large limb, directly overhead,
nearly broken off, hanging only by a slight splinter to its
parent stem. He said to his companion, pointing to the
object of his alarm: "Look, Reuben, and see what an
ugly thing we have camped under !" " It has, indeed, an
ugly appearance ; " replied Stringer, "but since it has ap-
parently hung a great while in that condition, it may very
likely do so a good while longer." "Ah", said Cleveland,
li as long as it has hung there, there is a time for it to come
down, and I will not be in the way of danger," and gathered
up his blanket, to spread it in a safer place. As he was
passing the fire, he heard a crack above — the splinter had
broken, and the limb came tumbling down, plunging its
three prongs directly into the ground where Cleveland had
but a moment before lain. They pulled over the fallen

432 KING 'S MO UNTAIN

limb, and found its prongs had penetrated into the earth to
the depth of fourteen inches. Stringer congratulated his
comrade on his fortunate awaking and removal, "for," he
added, " in one minute more, you would have been inevit-
ably killed." "Ah, Reuben," said Cleveland, who was
very much of a fatalist, " I always told you that no man
would die till his appointed time ; and when it comes, there
can be no possible escape."

But Cleveland's hunting days were about to end. It
was no longer a war with the wild beasts of the forest, but
with his fellow men. The story of Colonial taxation by the
King and Parliament reached the Yadkin Valley, and
Cleveland was among the first to resent the threatened tyr-
anny ; and soon came the tidings of Lexington and Bunker
Hill. North Carolina was organized into companies, regi-
ments, and brigades ; and, on the first of September, 1775,
Cleveland was appointed an Ensign in the second regiment,
under the command of Colonel Robert Howe. But he
seems not to have accepted it, preferring to serve in the
militia in his immediate locality, where he judged his
presence and efforts would be more useful.

During 1775, when Cleveland's neighbors and friends
of the Upper Yadkin Valley had occasion to go to Cross
Creek to dispose of their surplus productions, and purchase
their supplies of iron, sugar, salt, and other necessaries,
they were compelled, before they were permitted to buy or
sell, to take the oath of allegiance to the King. When
Cleveland heard of these tyrannical acts, and attempts to
forestall the politics of the people, he swore roundly that
he would like nothing better than to dislodge those Scotch
scoundrels at Cross Creek. Nor was an opportunity long
wanting. In February, 1776, the Highland Tories of that
locality raised the British standard, when Captain Cleve-
land marched down from the mountains with a party of
volunteer riflemen ; and, tradition has it, that he reached
the front in season to share in the fight, and in the suppres-

AND ITS HEROES. 433

sion of the revolt. He scoured the country in the region of
Wake Forest, capturing several outlaws, some of whom he
hung to the trees in the woods ; one of whom was Captain
Jackson, who was executed within half a mile of Ransom
Sutherland's homestead, whose houses and merchandize,
Jackson had caused to be laid in ashes a few days after the
battle of Moore's Creek Bridge. " I don't recollect," said
Colonel Sutherland, in the North Carolina University Maga-
zine, for September, 1854, " after Cleveland had done with
them, to have heard much more of those wretches during
the war." In this service, or at least a part of it, Cleveland
was under Colonel James Moore, who had served with credit
on the frontiers in the old French and Indian war, and
whose determined bravery gave him the sobriquet of " Mad
Jimmie" among the soldiery; and for years thereafter,
Moore was the theme of Cleveland's admiration.

When the Cherokees were inveigled by the British into
hostilities, Captain Cleveland, in the summer of 1776, served
a tour of duty in scouting on theWestern frontier of the State ;
and, shortly after, getting intelligence that a Tory Colonel
Roberts had embodied a number of Loyalists on the north-
west side of the Blue Ridge, on the borders of North Caro-
linia and Virginia, he went in quest of them ; but hearing
of this pursuit, they disbanded and dispersed. In the au-
tumn of that year, when General Rutherford led a strong
force against the Cherokees, Cleveland and his company
went on the campaign, in the Surry regiment, under Colonel
Joseph Williams* and Major Joseph Winston. William Le-
noir, who was Cleveland's Lieutenant, was accustomed, in
after years, to recount the hardships and privations the troops

* Colonel Williams was born in Hanover County, Virginia, March twenty-sev* ith,
1748; migrated in 1766 to Granville County, North Carolina, where he married Rebecca,
daughter of Thomas Lanier, and shortly after settled near the Shallow Ford of Yadkin, in
what afterwards became Surry County. When that County was organized, he was made
Colonel, and led his regiment on Rutherford's Cherokee campaign in 1776. He shared in
defeating the Tory leaders, Colonel Gideon and Captain Hezikiah Wright, at the head of
three hundred and ten Loyalists, at the Shallow Ford, October, fifteenth, 1780. Colonel
Williams died August eleventh, 1827.
28

434 KING 'S MO UNTAIN

had to suffer on that service — often destitute of provisions,
without tents, with but few blankets, dressed in clothing
made of rude materials, derived from hemp, tow, and the
wild nettle. Though often harrassed on their march by
parties in ambush, there was no general engagement —
Captain Cleveland sharing in the skirmishes and bush-
whackings of the campaign. The villages and settlements of
the hostile Cherokees were laid waste, their crops and pro-
visions destroyed, and they were compelled to sue for
peace.

Such was the high estimate placed on Captain Cleve-
land's fitness for frontier service, that early in the spring of
1777, he was selected to lead his company to the Watauga
settlements, to serve a tour for their protection against the
yet troublesome Cherokees. After passing the rugged in-
tervening mountain country, and reaching the Watauga
Valley, Cleveland and his men made their head-quarters at
Carter's Fort, while the Virginia troops were stationed at
the Long Island of Holston. Though scouting was kept up,
every pains were taken to bring the Indians to terms. Cleve-
land's company concentrated, with the other forces, at the
Long Island, where the celebrated treaty, in July of that
year, was held, and at which Major Winston was one of
the Commissioners. When peace was made, the Wilkes
troops returned to their distant home.

In the autumn of 1777, Captain Cleveland attended the
Legislature — not as a member, but to use his influence for
the division of Surry, and the formation of a new County,
for the better convenience of the Upper Yadkin settlements.
Wilkes County, thus formed, was named in honor of John
Wilkes, noted for his steady opposition in Parliament to the
American war. In March, 1778, when the new County was
organized, Cleveland was placed at the head of the commis-
sion of Justices, and was made Colonel of the militia. Hence-
forth we find Colonel Cleveland in regular attendance as
one of the Justices of the County Court, and generally the

AND ITS HEROES. 435

principal bondsman for the Sheriff and other County officers.
He was also often called on to fill other positions — Com-
missioner for seizing confiscated estates, Superintendent of
elections, and County Ranger or Stray Master. In 1778,
he was chosen to represent Wilkes County in the House of
Commons, and was regarded as one of the popular leaders
of the mountain region of the State.

On one occasion, soon after the regiment was organized,
it was ordered on service to the frontiers to quell some
Tory disturbance. After no little indiscriminate plunder-
ing of both Whigs and Tories, they returned home before
the expiration of their term of service, with their ill-got-
ten gains, before Colonel Cleveland was able to join them.
He was highly displeased with their conduct, swearing,
roundly that he would shoot the ring-leaders ; but he finally
agreed to forgive them on two conditions — the restoration of
their dishonorable plunderings, and to the end of the war,
turning out on a minute's warning. All who had shared in
the disgraceful pillage, returned the spoils of every kind,
and were ever after prompt to engage in any service at the
shortest notice.

When the British invaded Georgia, in 1778, General
Rutherford led a force from the back part of North Caro-
lina, of which at least a portion of Colonel Cleveland's regi-
ment formed a part. They repaired to Georgia, and shared
in the winter campaign of 1778-79, which culminated in the
disastrous defeat of General Ashe, at Brier Creek, before
Lincoln and Rutherford could come to his aid. Returning
from this service, Colonel Cleveland was chosen to repre-
sent his County in the State Senate. In the summer of 1 780,
he was constantly employed in suppressing the Tories — first
in marching against those assembled at Ramsour's mill,
reaching there shortly after their defeat ; then in chasing
Colonel Bryan's band from the State ; and finally in scour-
ing the region of New river in checking the Tory rising in
that quarter, capturing and hanging some of their notorious
leaders and outlaws.

436 KING 'S MO UNTAIN

Then followed his King's Mountain campaign — the
great service of his life — the wounding, while on the way,
of his brother, Lieutenant Larkin Cleveland, by a Tory party
under Captain John Murray, near Lovelady's Shoals ; and
then hurrying forward to grapple with the indomitable Fer-
guson. The poet Hayne notices Cleveland in this battle as
though he were a very round head of Cromwell's fervor and
time :

"Now, by God's grace," cried Cleveland my noble Colonel he,
Resting to pick a Tory off, quite cooly on his knee, —
"Now, by God's grace, we have them ! the snare is subtly set ;
The game is bagged: we hold them safe as pheasants in a net."

His heroic bearing in the contest, and his exciting ren-
counter with the half-crazed Bowen, each so fortunately es-
caping fatal results, have been already related. Besides
having assigned to him, by general consent, one of Fer-
guson's war horses, which lived to an uncommon great age,
he carried home with him a snare-drum, to which he pointed
with pride as a King's Mountain trophy, as long as he lived.
There can be no question but Colonel Cleveland was con-
spicuous in bringing about the execution of the Tory lead-
ers atBickerstafFs. His whole career during the war goes
to show that he was severe in his treatment of the Tories —
perhaps not unjustly so, considering the times and circum-
stances of an exposed frontier, when the execution of civil
law was so infrequent and uncertain. His brief command
over the Tory prisoners at Bethabara has been elsewhere
noticed. Sometime in November ensuing, James Coyle or
Cowles, and John Brown — or Jones, as Wheeler has it —
two notorious Tory plunderers, passing through Lincoln
County, robbed the house of Major George Wilfong of every-
thing they could carry away, and then made off with a
couple of his horses. Major Wilfong with a party followed
the culprits, overtaking them near Wilkesboro, recovered
the horses, but the ruffians made good their escape. They
had appropriated Wilfong's clothes-line for halters, which
the Major left behind, with which to hang the rascals should

AND ITS HEROES. 437

they ever be taken. Shortly after, as they were returning
towards Ninety Six, they were apprehended by some
of Cleveland's scouts, and brought to Wilkesboro, where
Colonel Cleveland ordered them hung with Wilfong's ropes.
All admitted that though the execution was summary, it was
nevertheless just.

Early in 1781, when General Greene was maneuvering
on the upper border of North Carolina, Colonel Cleveland
raised about a hundred riflemen, went to his assistance,
serving awhile in the advance parties of light infantry, but
returned home from their tour of duty a little before the
conflict at Guilford.

To Colonel Cleveland, whose career was replete with
perilous adventures, an occurrence now transpired, which
at one time threatened the most tragic termination ; and
which, for its hair-breadth escapes, may be regarded as the
most notable event of his life. Some thirty-five miles
from his home at the Round- About on the Yadkin, and
some twenty north-west of Wilkesboro, and in the south-
eastern portion of the present County of Ashe, was a well-
known locality, mostly on the northern bank of the South
Fork of New river, called the Old Fields — which at some
previous period, was probably the quiet home of a wander-
ing band of Cherokees. These Old Fields belonged to
Colonel Cleveland, and served, in peaceful times, as a graz-
ing region for his stock.

Having occasion to visit his New River plantation,
Colonel Cleveland rode there, accompanied only by a negro
servant, arriving at Jesse Duncan's, his tenant, at the lower
end of the Old Fields, on Saturday, the fourteenth of April,
1 78 1. Unfortunately for the Colonel, Captain William
Riddle, a noted Tory leader, son of the Loyalist Colonel
James Riddle, of Surry County, was approaching from the
Virginia border with Captain Ross, a Whig captive, whom
he had taken, together with his servant, and now en route
for Ninety Six, where a British reward appears to have

438 KING 'S MO UNTAIN

been paid for prisoners. Riddle, with his party of six or
eight men, reaching Benjamin Cutbirth's, some four miles
above the Old Fields, a fine old Whig, and an old associate
of Daniel Boone, who had only partially recovered from a
severe spell of fever. The Tory Captain, probably from
Cutbirth's reticence regarding solicited information, shame-
fully abused him, and placed him under guard.

Descending the river to the upper end of the Old Fields,
where Joseph and Timothy Perkins resided — about a mile
above Duncan's — both of whom were absent in Tory
service, Riddle learned from their women, that Cleveland
was but a short distance away, at Duncan's, with only his
servant, Duncan, and one or two of the Callaway family
there. Every Tory in the country knew full well of Cleve-
land's inveterate hatred of their race ; how prominently he
had figured at King's Mountain, and had given his influ-
ence for the Tory executions at Bickerstaff's, and caused
the summary hanging of Coyle and Brown at Wilkesboro.
Riddle well judged that such a prisoner would be a prize to
take along to Ninety Six, or it would prove no small honor
to any Loyalist to rid the Rebel cause of so untiring and dis-
tinguished a leader in the Southern country.

The prospect of making Cleveland his prisoner was too
tempting for Riddle to neglect. His force was too small to
run any great risk, and so he concluded to resort to strata-
gem. He resolved, therefore, to steal Cleveland's horses in
the quiet of the night, judging that the Colonel would fol-
low their trail the next morning, supposing they had strayed
off, when he would ambuscade him at some suitable place,
and thus take " Old Round- About " as he was called, una-
wares, and at a disadvantage. The horses were accord-
ingly taken that night ; and a laurel thicket selected, just
above the Perkins' house, as a fitting place to waylay their
expected pursuers. During Saturday, Richard Callaway
and his brother-in-law, John Shirley, went down from the
neighboring residence of Thomas Callaway to Duncan's, to

AND ITS HEROES. 439

see Colonel Cleveland, and appear to have remained there
over night.

Discovering that the horses were missing on Sunday
morning, immediate pursuit was made. Having a pair of
pistols, Colonel Cleveland retained one of them, handing
the other to Duncan, while Callaway and Shirley were un-
armed. Reaching the Perkins' place, one of the Perkins
women knowing of the ambuscade, secretly desired to
save the Colonel from his impending fate, so she detained
him, as long as she could, by conversation, evidently fear-
ing personal consequences should she divulge the scheme
of his enemies to entrap him. His three associates kept on,
with Cleveland some little distance behind, Mrs. Perkins
still following, and retarding him by her inquiries ; and as
those in advance crossed the fence which adjoined the
thicket, the Tories fired from their places of concealment, one
aiming at Cleveland, who though some little distance in the
rear, was yet within range of their guns. But they gener-
ally shot wild — only one shot, that of Zachariah Wells, who
aimed at Callaway, proving effectual, breaking his thigh,
when he fell helpless by the fence, and was left for dead.*
Duncan and Shirley escaped. Cleveland from his great
weight — fully three hundred pounds — knew he could not run
any great distance, and would only be too prominent a mark
for Tory bullets, dodged into the house with several Tories
at his heels. Now, flourishing his pistol rapidly from one
to another, they pledged to spare his life and accord him
good treatment, if he would quietly surrender, which he did.

Wells by this time having re-loaded his rifle, made his
appearance on the scene, swearing that he would kill Cleve-
land ; and aiming his gun, the Colonel instantly seized Abi-

*Richard Callaway had been grieviously wounded on the head, arms, shoulder, and
hand by Tarleton's cavalry, at Sumter's surprise, Aug. eighteenth, 1780, and left for dead ;
yet recovered, though, he had a crippled hand for life. In due time his broken limb, so
badly disabled by Wells' unerring shot, healed up, and he lived many years. He aided in
running the boundary line from the White Top Mountains to the Mississippi, and died in
Tennessee in 1822.

440 KING 'S MO UNTAIN

gail Walters who was present, and by dint of his great
strength, and under a high state of excitement, dextrously
handled her as a puppet, keeping her between him and his
would-be assassin. Wells seemed vexed at this turn in the
affair, and hurled his imprecations on the poor woman,
threatening if she did not get out of the way, that he would
blow her through as well, not appearing to realize that she
had as little power as a mouse in the clutches of a ferocious
cat. Cleveland getting his e}Tes on Captain Riddle, whom
he knew, or judged by his appearance, to be the leader,
appealed to him if such treatment was not contrary to the
stipulations of his surrender. Riddle promptly replied that
it was, and ordered Wells to desist from his murderous in-
tent, saying that they would take Cleveland to Ninety Six,
and make money out of his capture. The terrified woman
who had been made an unwilling battery, was now released
from Cleveland's grasp as from a vise ; and the whole party
with their prisoner and his servant were speedily mounted,
and hurried up New river. This stream, so near its source,
was quite shallow, and the Tories traveled mostly in its
bed to avoid being tracked, in case of pursuit.

Soon after the Tory party had called at Cutbirth's, on
their way down the river, young Daniel Cutbirth and a
3'outh named Walters, who were absent at the time,
returned ; and encouraged by Mrs. Cutbirth, though only
fourteen or fifteen years of age, they resolved that
they would take their guns, select a good spot, and
ambuscade Riddle on his return, and perhaps rescue what-
ever prisoners he might have. But on the return of the
Tory party the next day, they made so much noise, and
gave so many military commands, that led the youthful
ambuscaders to conclude that they had received a rein-
forcement, and that it would be rashness for two single-
handed youths to undertake to cope with numbers so
unequal. So Riddle and his party reached Cutbirth's
undisturbed, and ordered dinner for himself, men, and

AND ITS HEROES. 441

prisoners. One of the Cutbirth girls, not engaging wil-
lingly in this service, received abuse, and even kicks, from
the Tory leader. Their hunger appeased, they proceeded
up New river, mostly along its bed, till they reached Elk
Creek, up which they made their way in the same manner.
Colonel Cleveland, meanwhile, managed unperceived, to
break off overhanging twigs, dropping them into the stream
to float down as a guide to his friends, who he knew would
make an early pursuit. From the head of the south fork
of Elk, they ascended up the mountains to what has since
been known as Riddle's Knob, in what is now Watauga
County, and some fourteen miles from the place of Cleve-
land's captivity, where they camped for the night.

Early on that Sabbath morning, Joseph Callaway and
his brother-in-law, Berry Toney, wishing to see Colonel
Cleveland on business matters, called at Duncan's, and
learned about the missing horses, and the pursuit ; and at
that moment they heard the report of the firing at the
upper end of the plantation, and hastened in that direction,
soon meeting Duncan and Shirley in rapid flight, who
could only tell that Richard Callaway had fallen, and
Colonel Cleveland was either killed or taken. It was
promptly agreed, that Duncan, Shirley, and Toney should
notify the people of the scattered settlements to meet that
afternoon at the Old Fields, while Joseph Callaway should
go to his father's, close by, mount his horse and hasten to
Captain Robert Cleveland's, on Lewis' Fork of the Yadkin,
a dozen miles distant.* His brother, William Callaway,
started forthwith up the river, and soon came across
Samuel McQueen and Benjamin Greer, who readily joined
him ; and all being good woodsmen, followed the Tory
trail at best they could, till night overtook them when some
distance above the mouth ofElk Creek, and about ten miles
from the Old Fields. William Callaway suggested, that he

* Joseph Callaway was a member from Ashe County, in the House of Commons, in
1804 and 1806.

442 KING 'S MO UNTAIN

and McQueen would remain there, while Greer should
return to pilot up whatever men may have gathered to
engage in pursuit of the Tories.

By night-fall, Captain Robert Cleveland and others, to
the number of twenty or thirty, good and tried men, who
had served under Colonel Cleveland, had gathered at the
Old Fields, determined to rescue their old commander at
every hazard, even though they should follow the Tory
party to the gates of Ninety Six. Greer made his appear-
ance in good time, and at once they were on the trail of the
enemy.* They reached William Callaway and McQueen
awhile before day ; and as soon as light began to appear,
John Baker joined Callaway and McQueen, to lead the
advance as spies. A little after sun-rise, having proceeded
four miles they discovered indications of the enemy's camp
on the mountain. But little arrangement was made for the
attack ; nine men only were in readiness — the others were
apparently some distance behind ; and only four or five of
these were designated to fire on the enemy, the rest reserv-
ing their shots for a second volley, or any emergencies that
might happen — of these was William Callaway.

Some of the Tories had already breakfasted, while
others were busily employed in preparing their morning
meal. Colonel Cleveland was sitting on a large fallen tree,
engaged, under compulsion, in writing passes for the
several members of Captain Riddle's party, certifying that
each was a good Whig — to be used, when in a tight place,
to help them out of difficulty, by assuming that they were
patriots of the truest type, Cleveland's commendation
passing unquestioned along the borders of Virginia and
the Carolinas. But "Old Round About" had a strong

* Greer was one of Cleveland's heroes. One of his fellow -soldiers stole his tobacco
from him, when he threatened he would whip him for it as soon as he should put his eyes
on him. Cleveland expostulated with Greer, telling him his men ought to fight the enemy,
and not each other. " I'll give him a hint oi it, any way," said Greer, and when he met
the tobacco pilferer, he knocked him down. Greer's hint was long a by-word in all that
region. — Col. W. W. Lenoir.

AND ITS HEROES. 443

suspicion that their urgency for these passports betokened
that the moment they were completed, his days would be
numbered ; and thus naturally but a poor penman, he
purposely retarded his task as much as possible, hoping to
gain time for the expected relief, apologizing for his
blunders, and renewing his unwilling efforts. Several of
the Tory party were now gathering up their horses for an
early start, and Cleveland was receiving severe threaten-
ings if he did not hurry up his last passport.

Just at this moment, while Captain Riddle and Zacha-
riah Wells were especially guarding Cleveland and Captain
Ross — the former with Cleveland's pistol presented at his
breast, and the latter with his gun aimed for instantaneous
use, if need be — the relief party were silently creeping up ;
and the next moment several guns were fired, and the Whigs
rushed up, uttering their loudest yells. Colonel Cleveland,
comprehending the situation, tumbled off the prostrate tree,
on the side opposite to his friends, lest their balls might
accidently hit him, and exclaiming, in his joy, at the top of
his thundering voice, "Huzza for brother Bob! — that's
right, give 'em h — // " Wells alone was shot, as he was
scampering away, by William Callaway in hot pursuit, and
supposed to be mortally wounded, he was left to his fate ;
the rest fled with the aid of their fresh horses, or such as
they could secure at the moment — Riddle and his wife
among the number. Cleveland's servant, a pack-horse for
Tory plunder, was overjoyed at his sudden liberation.
Cleveland and Ross were thus fortunately rescued ; and
having gained their purpose, the happy Whigs returned to
their several homes. William Callaway was especially
elated that he had had the good fortune to shoot Wells, who
had so badly wounded his brother, Richard Callaway, at
the ambuscade at the Old Fields.

Shortly after this occurrence, Captain Riddle ventured to
make a night raid into the Yadkin Valley, where on King's
Creek, several miles above Wilkesboro, they surrounded

444 KING 'S MO UNTAIN

the house where two of Cleveland's noted soldiers, David
and John Witherspoon, resided with their parents, and
spirited them many miles away in the mountain region on
Watauga river, in what is now Watauga County, were both
were sentenced to be shot — blindfolded, and men detailed to
do the fatal work. It was then proposed, if they would
take the oath of allegiance to the King, repair to their home,
and speedily return with a certain noble animal belong-
ing to David Witherspoon, known as "the O'Neal mare,"
and join the Tory band, their lives would be spared.
They gladly accepted the proposition — with such mental
reservations as they thought fit to make. As soon as they
reached home, David Witherspoon mounted his fleet-footed
mare, and hastened to Colonel Ben. Herndon's, several
miles down the river, who quickly raised a party, and
piloted by the Witherspoons, they soon reached the Tory
camp, taking it by surprise, capturing three, and killing and
dispersing others. So the young Witherspoons fulfilled
their promise of returning speedily to the Tory camp,
bringing the O'Neal mare with them ; but under somewhat
different circumstances from what the unsophisticated Tories
expected.

The three prisoners taken were Captain Riddle, and
two of his noted associates, named Reeves and Goss. On
their arrival at Wilkesboro, a court martial condemned
them to be hung ; but as if to curry favor with the soldiers,
or get them in a condition so he might escape, Riddle
treated them freely to whisky. Learning which, Colonel
Cleveland frankly informed him, that it would be useless to
waste his whisk}- in such efforts — that he would be hung
directly after breakfast. The three notorious freebooters
were accordingly executed, on the hill adjoining the
village, on a stately oak, which is yet standing, and pointed
out to strangers at Wilkesboro. Mrs. Riddle, who seems
to have accompanied her husband on his wild and reckless
marauds, was present, and witnessed his execution.

AND ITS HEROES. 445

Colonel Cleveland was active at this period in sending
out strong scouting parties to scour the mountain regions,
and if possible, utterly break up the Tory bands still
infesting the frontiers. His Wilkes riflemen had, by this
time, acquired a reputation of which they were justly
proud. They were generally known as Cleveland's Heroes ,
sometimes as Cleveland' 's Bull Dogs; while the Tories
denominated them Cleveland' 's Devils. Cleveland himself
rated each of his well-tried followers as the equal of five
ordinary soldiers. It was not long before one of these
detachments had the good fortune to take Zachariah Wells
who had not yet recovered from the dangerous wound he
had received at Riddles' Knob. He was conveyed to
Hughes' Bottom, about a mile below Colonel Cleveland's
Round-About residence, near the mouth of a small stream
known as Hughes' Creek. Here young James Gwyn, a
vouth of thirteen, with a colored boy with him, was at work
in the cornfield, when Colonel Cleveland, who had joined
those having the prisoner in charge, of whom Lieutenant
Elisha Reynolds, Cleveland's two sons and his brother,
formed a part, took the plow lines from the horse, with
which to hang Wells to a tree on the river bank.

Young Gwyn, who knew little of the stern realities of
war, was shocked at the thought of so summary an execu-
tion. Intimately acquainted with Colonel Cleveland, he
begged the Colonel not to hang the poor fellow, who looked
so pitiful, and was suffering from his former wound, greatly
exciting his sympathies. "Jimmie, my son/' said Cleve-
land tenderly, " he is a bad man; we must hang all such
dangerous Tories, and get them out of their misery ;" while
Captain Bob. Cleveland, who was present, was cursing the
wincing Tory at a vigorous rate. With tears coursing
down his cheeks, the Colonel adjusted the rope, regretting
the necessity for hanging the trembling culprit — remember-
ing vividly the rough treatment he had so recently received at
the hands of Wells at the Perkins' place, at the Old Fields ; and

446 KING 'S MO UNTAIN

firmly convinced that the lives of the patriots of the Yadkin
Valley" would be safer, and their slumbers all the more peace-
ful, when their suffering country was rid of all such vile des-
peradoes. Such was Cleveland's philosophy, and such his
patriotism. Wells soon dangled from a convenient tree, and
his remains were buried in the sand and loam on the
bank of the Yadkin.

Others of the Tory brigands also fell into the hands of
Cleveland's vigilant troopers. One of them was Bill Nichols,
a noted and desperate leader, whose wife is said to have
been a sister of Captain Willaim Riddle. On one occasion,
Nichols had a difficulty with a Whig neighbor named Letcher,
snatched his gun from him, and with it shot him
down in his tracks. Nichols was speedily executed. At
another time, one Tate and eight others were taken by
Cleveland and his men, and had them near old Richmond,
on the Yadkin, in Surry. When Cleveland was about to
execute the leader, Colonel William Sheppard protested
against such summary justice. "Why," said Cleveland,
"Tate confesses that he has frequently laid in wait to kill
you." "Is that so?" inquired Sheppard, turning to the
Tory captain. Tate frankly acknowledged that it was
true — that he was an influential Whig, and the Loyalists
were anxious to have him out of the way. Sheppard now
acquiesced in the opinion that Tate was a dangerous
man, and that they had best make an example of him. So
his fate was fixed, while his associates only suffered impris-
onment as other captives of war.

On another occasion Colonel Cleveland visited Colonel
Sheppard* at Richmond, where he had two notorious Tory
horse-thieves in prison. Cleveland insisted on swinging
them to the nearest tree, less they should effect their escape,

♦Colonel Sheppard was an early settler of Surry County ; he commanded a troop of
cavalry on Rutherford's Cherokee campaign; and participated largely in opposing the
Tories of his region. He represented his County in the State Senate six years, 1777-82 ;
and removing to Orange County, he served again in the Senate in 1793, 1801 and 1803, and
was many years a magistrate, He died February eighth, 1822, in his seventy-sixth year.

AND ITS HEROES. 447

and yet further endanger the community — at least one of
them, whose crimes rendered him particularly obnoxious to
the people. One end of a rope was fastened to his neck,
when he was mounted on a log, and the other end made
fast to the limb of a tree overhead, and the log then rolled
from under the culprit. Cleveland now repaired to the jail,
and significantly pointed the surviving Tory to his late as-
sociate now dangling from the tree. ' 'You have your choice,"
observed Cleveland sternly, " either to take your place be-
side him, or cut your own ears off, and leave the country
forever." The Tory knew he could not trifle with "Old
Round-About," so he called for a knife. A case-knife was
accordingly handed him, which he whetted a moment on a
brick, then gritting his teeth, he slashed off his own ears,
and left with the blood streaming down his cheeks, and was
never heard of afterwards. Truly civil wars are both sav-
age and sanguinary in their character.

John Doss was the faithful overseer of Cleveland's plan-
tation while the Colonel was much of the time absent from
home during the period of Tory troubles in 1780-81. Bill
Harrison, a noted Tory leader of that region, with the aid
of his followers, not only stole Cleveland's stock, and de-
stroyed his property, but apprehended his vigilant overseer,
took him to a side-hill, placed him on a log, fastening one
end of a grape vine around his neck, and the other over a
prong of a stooping dogwood ; when one of the party went
up the hill, so as to gain sufficient propelling power, then
rushed down headlong, butting Doss off the log into etern-
ity. It was not long before Harrison was caught, and
brought to Cleveland's home. Accompanied by his servant
Bill, and one or two others, Cleveland led Harrison to the
same dogwood on which he had hung poor Doss.

" I hope you will not hang me, Colonel," faintly observed
the trembling wretch." "Why not?" "Because," said
the abject Tory, "you know 1 am a useful man in the
neighborhood — am a good mechanic — have worked for you

448 KING 'S MO UNTAIN

in peaceful days, and can not well be spared ; besides I have
invented perpetual motion, and if I am now suddenly cut
off, the world will lose the benefit of my discovery. I, too,
have heard you curse Fanning and other Loyalist leaders
for putting prisoners to death — where are your principles —
where your conscience?" "Where is my conscience," re-
torted Cleveland; "where are my horses and cattle you
have stolen — my barn and fences you have wantonly burned
— and where is poor Jack Doss? 'Fore God I will do this
deed, and justify myself before high heaven and my coun-
try! Run up the hill, Bill, and butt him off the log— I'll
show him perpetual motion !" *

It is related, that, on one occasion, when, Colonel
Cleveland was absent from home, a Tory horse-thief was
brought in for adjudication, and turned over to the care of
the Colonel's sons to await their father's return. This not
occurring so soon as expected, and fearing if they should un-
dertake to keep their prisoner over night he might
give them the slip, or make them trouble, they appealed
to their mother, who was engaged in her domestic voca-
tions, and smoking her pipe, what they had best do under
the circumstances. Learning the nature of the offense, and
that the evidence against the culprit was overwhelming, she
asked them what their father would do in such a case ? "Hang
him,'' was the prompt reply, "Well, then," said the old
lady, " you must hang him," and he was accordingly hung
at the gate.f

Punishments were graded according to the offence, and
seem to have been administered on the principles of mar-
tial law. When an ordinaty pilferer was taken to Colonel
Cleveland by William Lenoir, he was ordered to have his
two thumbs placed in a notch of a tree, and thus made fast,
while he received fifteen lashes. This was called thumbing

*Related in a debate in the North Carolina Legislature, in 1840, by Hon. Hamilton C.
Jones, of Rowan.

•{•Johnson's Traditions of the Revolution, 401, corroborated by others.

AND ITS HEROES. 449

the notch. Captain John Beverly, in this case, carried the
order into execution ; but anxious to meet out full justice to the
prisoner, with a little added interest, he did not stop at the
number adjudged, but continued to whip the wincing cul-
prit, when Colonel Herndon drew his sword, and struck
Beverly, who drew his in return, and a tilt was the result,
which, but for the interference of mutual friends might have
terminated fatally. A little over five miles above Wilkes-
boro, on the Burke road, and half a mile west of the village
of Moravian Falls, yet stood within a few years "Shad
Laws' Oak," on which the notches thumbed by Shadrach
Laws, under sentence of Cleveland, were distinctly visible.

The reader must not suppose that Colonel Cleveland
always deemed it the best policy to resort to the severest
measures with the Tory thieves brought before him for ad-
judication. Once, it is related, that he had a pretty hard
case in hand. " Waste no time," said Cleveland; " swing
him off quick !" " You needn't be in any such d — d hurry
about it," cooly retorted the condemned man. Cleveland,
who was toddling along behind, pleased with the noncha-
lance of the fellow, exclaimed, "boys, let him go!" The
Tory, touched with such unexpected generosity, turned to
Cleveland and said, with no little feeling: "Well, old fel-
low, you've conquered me ; I'll ever after fight on your
side," and proved himself one of the most intrepid of Cleve-
land's followers.

" Old Round-About " was a keen judge of human na-
ture, and would often set himself at work to reform a class
of Tories who had been led astray by unhappy influences.
Missing one of this class awhile, and at length meeting
him, he saluted him in this kind, familiar style: "Well,
Bob, I reckon you are returning from a Tory trip — are you
not?" "Yes, Colonel, I am," "Well," continued the
Colonel, " I expect when you become rested, you will take
another jaunt with them, eh?" "No, Colonel, if I ever go
with them again, I'll give you leave to make a button of my

450 KING'S MOUNTAIN

head for a halter." " Well, Bob, that shall be the bargain."
So he gives Bob a stiff drink of grog, in accordance with the
fashion of the times, and a hearty dinner, and starts him off'
home rejoicing on his way, and swearing that, after all,
" Old Round- About" had a warmer heart, and a kindlier
way with him, than any Tory leader of his acquaintance, and
ever after Bob proved himself as true a Whig almost as the
Colonel himself.

Nor were Colonel Cleveland's efforts restricted to mak-
ing good Whigs out of refractory Tories. He aimed as well
to make good and industrous citizens. Eleven miles above
Wilkesboro, on the south bank of the Yadkin, resided one
Bishop, one of a class who tried to shirk the responsibilities
of the war, and was wanting alike in patriotism and energy
of character. At heart he was believed to be a Tory. Pass-
ing Bishop's on one of his excursions, Cleveland observed
that his corn, from neglect, presented a sorry appearance.
He called Bishop out, and asked him if he had been sick?
He said that he had not. " Have you, then, been fighting
for your country?" "No," said the neutral, " I have not
been fighting on either side.'1 " In times like these," re-
marked Cleveland, " men who are not fighting, and are able
to work, must not be allowed to have their crops as foul as
yours." The indolent man had " to thumb the notch,""
with the admonition that if his corn thereafter was not well
worked, double the punishment would be his portion next
time. It is hardly necessary to add, that Bishop's corn
was henceforth in as fine condition as any man's in the
country.*

Cleveland was literally " all things to all people." By his
severities, he awed and intimidated not a few — restraining
them from lapsing into Tory abominations ; by his kindness,
forbearance, and even tenderness, winning over many to the
glorious cause he loved so well.

But the war was now rapidly drawing to a close. In

*MS. correspondence of Col. W. W. Lenoir.

AND ITS HEROES. 451

the autumn of 1781, Colonel Cleveland performed his last
military service, a three months tour of duty, on the waters
of the Little Pedee, in the south-eastern part of the State,
under General Rutherford. At this time, the British Colo-
nel Craig was confined to Wilmington, while Fanning
and other Tory leaders were yet scouring the country, and
needed such a force as the mountaineers to successfully
cope with them. Cleveland's men routed several of these
scattered Loyalist detachments before returning home.

At the close of the war, Colonel Cleveland, having lost
his fine Round- About plantation by a better title, now
turned his attention to the fine region of the Tugalo, on the
western borders of South Carolina — a country that had
greatly attracted him, when, many years before, he re-
turned from the Cherokee Nation with the horses he had
reclaimed from their plundering warriors. Though the
Indian title was not yet extinguished, he resolved to be
among the early squatters of the country. In 1784, he vis-
ited the Tugalo Valley, made his selection of a new home
in the forks of Tugalo river and Chauga creek, in the
present County of Oconee, whither he removed in the fol-
lowing year, accompained by not a few of his kinsmen
and old companions in arms.

In November, 1785, the treaty of Hopewell was con-
cluded, by which the Cherokees agreed to bury the hatchet,
and relinquish all claim to territory east of the Tugalo.
Such obligations usually rest lightly upon Indians, and
oftentimes, it must be confessed, they were trespassed upon
by their more powerful and covetous white neighbors.
While a sort of quasi war was yet brewing, the Cherokees
stole some of Cleveland's stock, when he buckled on his
hunting knife, and went in person to their towns, demand-
ing their restoration within a given time, or the last one of
them should pay the forfeit with his life. They were greatly
surprised at his enormous size, and judged that it would
take a hundred good warriors to cope with him single-
handed. The stock were promptly restored.

452 KING >S MO UNTAIN

During these border troubles, one Henry Dinkins, a
Tory of the Revolution, who had taken refuge among the
Cherokees, inducing a couple of negroes to steal horses
and flee with him, made plundering raids on the Tugalo,
accompained by these colored men, all well armed and
well mounted. Cleveland got wind of their approach,
snatched up his rifle, and one night way-laying their trail,
captured all three of them. Some assistance coming to
his aid, Cleveland concluded that the best disposition to
make of Dinkins was to hang him on the spot, which was
accordingly done. So notorious was Dinkins' reputation
for evil, that the whole country rejoiced at his riddance,
without stopping to inquire whether the particular mode of his
exit was quite in accordance with the nicities of the law.

Colonel Cleveland served many years as a Judge of the
Court of old Pendleton County, with General Pickens and
Colonel Robert Anderson at his associates ; Colonel Cleve-
land "frequently taking a snooze on the bench," says
Governor Perry, "while the lawyers were making long,
prosy speeches ;" if he snored too loudly, his judicial asso-
ciates would give him a nudge, and wake him up. He
nevertheless administered justice promptly and fairly. In
1793, he lost his election to the Legislature by seven votes
only. "We were always afraid," said Mrs. Jane Miller,
a daughter of General Pickens, " when Colonel Cleveland
came to stay over night with us, lest the bedstead should
prove unequal to his ponderous weight." For several
years before his death, he became so unwieldly in size, that
he could no longer mount his favorite saddle horse, and
leave his home — gradually attaining to the enormous weight
of four hundred and fifty pounds, and was long unable to
rest in bed.

He would spend much of his time sitting on his piazza,
dressed in a sort of loose gown, enjoying in the coldest of
weather, the fresh air, while others would suffer from the
exposure. He was full of good cheer, indulging in jibes

AND ITS HEROES. 453

and jokes with the passers-by. On one occasion, while
occupying his big chair on his porch, he saluted a stranger
jocularly : " Halloo, my friend, what's the news this
morning from the lower regions?" "Oh, nothing of any
moment," the man sportively retorted, "only that Old
Horny and his wife had quite a set-to last night — she
clamoring for a supply of soap-grease, when he at length
pacified her with the assurance, that Colonel Cleveland
would soon be there, when her royal highness should enjoy
the fat of the land to her heart's content." This rough
repartee so pleased the jolly Colonel, that he insisted on
the stranger stopping with him, and partaking of his hos-
pitalities.

For several summers preceding his death, he suffered
from dropsy in his lower limbs, and during the last year of
his life his excessive fat considerably decreased, and he, at
length, died sitting at breakfast, in October, 1806, in the
sixty-ninth year of his age. His wife had preceded him to
the grave some half a dozen years. He left two sons and
a daughter, whose descendants are numerous and respect-
able— one of them becoming the wife of General Thomas
J. Rusk, one of the leaders in acquiring Texan independ-
ence, and subsequently serving ten years in the United
States Senate ; another, the lady of Governor Charles J.
McDonald, of Georgia. In the prime of life, Colonel
Cleveland was a little short of six feet, finely proportioned,
possessing a pleasing and intelligent countenance.

With scarcely any education, and little improvement in
after life, yet Colonel Cleveland, with a naturally vigorous
intellect, exerted a commanding influence among a frontier
people ; and though despotic in his nature, and severe on
the Tories, his patriotic activity did much in preserving the
western portion of the Carolinas from British and Tory
ascendency. North Carolina deservedly commemorated
his services by naming a County after him. This noble
hero of King's Mountain now sleeps, in the family burial-

454 KING'S MO UNTAIN

ground, on his old plantation, beautifully situated in the
forks of the Tugalo and Chauga. No monument — no in-
scription— no memorial-stone point out his silent resting
place. The spot is now marked by several large pines
that have grown up since his interment — one of them, it is
understood, shoots its tall spire from his grave. His old
dwelling and out-houses have long since disappeared, but
the muse of history will not willingly let die the name and
memory of Benjamin Cleveland — to all Tories the terror of
terrors, and to all others, the jolly "Old Round-About"
of the Yadkin.

A branch of the Winston family, originally of York-
shire, England, settled in Wales, and thence migrated to
Virginia. "The family" of Winston," says Alexander H.
Everett, " was among the most distinguished in the Colony."
One of the Virginia descendants was Samuel Winston, of
Louisa County — reputed a brother of the mother of Patrick
Henry — who had seven sons all actively engaged in the
Revolution. Among them was Joseph Winston, born in
Louisa County, June seventeenth, 1746. Receiving a fair
education for that day, he joined, at the age of seventeen,
a company of rangers, under Captain Philips, who marched
from Louisa to the frontiers on Jackson's river, where uniting
with Captain George MofFett, making sixty men altogether,
they pursued a party of Indians between Forts Young and
Dinvviddie, and were drawn into an ambuscade, September
thirtieth, 1763. They were fired on from both sides of the
trail, and maintained the fight a considerable time ; but,
at length, overpowered by numbers, they were forced to
give way, scattering as best they could. Several were
killed, and, in the meUe, young Winston had his horse shot
from under him, and himself received two wounds, one in
the body, and the other through his thigh, rendering him
well nigh helpless. He managed to conceal himself till the
Indians retired in pursuit of the fugitives, when a comrade

SteAed oKVoppw iy £ $cfcuurt. from erioMcU Wtchina uv .7-old 01* yJaM

wppv *y ^

AND ITS HEROES. 455

fortunately came to his aid, carried him upon his back for
three days, living upon wild roseberries, and at length
reached a friendly frontier cabin. Though he in time
recovered, the ball in his body was never extracted, and
was the source of occasional suffering through life.

In 1769, Joseph Winston and others petitioned the Vir-
ginia authorities for a grant of ten thousand acres of land
on the lower side of Little Guyandotte ; and probably failing
to secure it, Mr. Winston migrated about this period to
North Carolina, locating on Town Fork of Dan river, in
what was long Surry, subsequently Stokes County, North
Carolina. In 1775, he was a member of the Hillsboro
Convention ; and, in February, 1776, he went on the expe-
dition against the Scotch Tories at Cross creek. He was
appointed, in this year, Ranger of Surry County, and
Major in the militia, serving on Rutherford's expedition
against the Cherokees. In 1777, he was a member of the
House of Commons, and a Commissioner to treat with the
Cherokee Indians. In 1780, he served in Colonel David-
son's expedition in pursuit of Bryans' Tories ; was with
Cleveland against the Loyalists on New river ; in a skirmish
at Alamance ; and commanded a portion of the right wing
at King's Mountain, for which he subsequently was voted
an elegant sword by the Legislature of North Carolina.

In February, 1781, he led a party against a band of
Tories ; had a running fight with them, killing some, cap-
turing others, and dispersing the remainder. He shortly
after joined General Greene with a hundred riflemen, and
shared in the battle of Guilford. In 1792-3, and again from
1803-7, he represented his district in Congress. He was a
Presidential elector in 1800, voting for Jefferson, and in
181 2, voting for Madison. Three times he was chosen a
member of the State Senate from Surry ; and when Stokes
County was organized, he was appointed Lieutenant-Colonel,
and five times elected to the Senate — the last time in 181 2,
when the Legislature provided for the presentation of the

456 KING'S MO UNTAIN

sword voted him in 1781, and which he thus pertinently ac-
knowledged :

"Mr. Speaker: — I am at a loss for words to express my
sense of the honor which the General Assembly has con-
ferred upon me by this grateful present. I trust that the
sword, which is directed to be presented to me, will never
be tarnished by cowardice, but be wielded in defence of my
country's rights and independence."

Colonel Winston died April twenty-first, 1815, in his
sixty-ninth year — curiously enough, the same age as his
superior, Colonel Cleveland. He was a man of stately form,
old school manners, and commanding presence. His home
was within view of the lofty mountains of Stokes and Surry,
whose " cloud-capt summits seemed within a squirrel's jump
of heaven." He left many worthy descendants — three sons
born at a single birth.*

Benjamin Herndon was born near Fredericksburg, Vir-
ginia, in 1749, and early settled in what is now Wilkes
County, North Carolina. He was appointed one of the first
Justices of Wilkes County, serving for many years ; was
Entry Taker of the County ; first a Captain, and then Lieu-
tenant Colonel of Cleveland's regiment — in which double
capacity he served at King's Mountain, commanding a
company of sixty men. He was twice a member of the
House of Commons, and twice of the North Carolina Sen-
ate. Not long after this last service, in 1786, he removed to
Newberry District, in South Carolina, where he died De-
cember thirtieth, 18 19, in his seventy-first year.

Micajah Lewis, who descended from Welsh ancestors,

*Soon after the birth of these triplets, a married sister, who had a babe about a month
old, called to visit the mother, and proposed to adopt one of the trio, and thus each would
practically have a pair of twins to rear. Mrs. Winston regarded the proposition favorably;
and as she sat up in bed, carefully examining all three to determine which to retain, and
which one to bestow upon her sister— she at length exclaimed : " I cannot decide for my
life — you cannot have any of them, sister; as God has given them to me, he will give me
strength to nurse them " And so he did— all of them lived, and were well educated. One
of them became a Major-General. another a Judge, and the third a State Senator and Lieu-
tenant Governor of Mississippi ; while a brother of theirs, who remained in North Carolina,
fought in the war of 1812, became a Major-General, and served in the State Legislature.

AND ITS HEROES. 457

was born in Albemarle County, Virginia, in 1755 ; and
early removed to what subsequently became Surry County,
North Carolina. He was appointed a Lieutenant in 1776,
and was a Captain in service in 1778. He joined General
Lincolnin 1779, and shared in the battle of Stono ; and, in
June 1780, he went in pursuit of Bryan's Tories, and was a
Major and Quarter-Master in Cleveland's regiment on
the King's Mountain campaign, receiving a wound in the
battle. He served as a volunteer at Pyle's defeat, February
twenty-fifth, 1781 ; and, twp days afterwards, while out
reconnoitering, he was mortally wounded, dying the next
day, and was buried at Dickey's plantation, on the
Alamance. He had rendered service in the North Caro-
lina line, and was, as General Joseph Graham states, "a
real soldier," of " past service and experience."

Joel Lewis was born in Albemarle County, Virginia,
August twenty-eighth, 1760 ; early settled in Surry County ;
commanded a company at King's Mountain, said to have
embraced among its members twenty-two of his own family
connections. A colored free man, named Bowman, of his
company, claimed to have killed Ferguson ; and Captain
Lewis secured some of the British commander's arms — one
a jewel-hilted poniard, which he retained many years. He
married Miriam Eastham, and had eighteen children. In
1784, he was chosen to represent Surry in the House of
Commons ; and, in 1789, he removed to Nashville, Tennes-
see, where he was an early hotel-keeper. In 1796, he was
a member of the Convention that formed the first Consti-
tution of Tennessee, and was the same year, and again in
1799, elected a State Senator. He held other public
positions ; and died, near Nashville, November twenty-
second, 1816. He left many worthy descendants. His
younger brother, James Martin Lewis, born in 1762, who
was a Lieutenant at King's Mountain, married Mary,
daughter of Colonel Benjamin Herndon, and died at
Columbia, Tennessee, in 1830. It is not a little singular,

458 KING >S MO UNTAIN

that the three brothers, Micajah, Joel, and James M. Lewis,
were all officers, and were all wounded at King's Mountain.

Robert Cleveland, a brother of Colonel Cleveland, was
a Captain at King's Mountain, but his company seems to
have been mostly among the footmen in the rear. He was
born in Virginia, in 1744, and died in Wilkes County, North
Carolina, April twenty-sixth, 1812, in his sixty -eighth year.
He was one of the North Carolina Electors on the Jefferson
ticket for President. His younger brother, Lieutenant
Larkin Cleveland, who was so badly wounded at the
Catawba while on the march to King's Mountain, settled in
Lincoln County, Tennessee, where he died in 181 7, in his
sixty-seventh year.

John Cleveland, a son of the Colonel, was born in
Virginia, about 1760 ; entered the service very young as a
private, afterwards was made a Lieutenant, and was under
Colonel Isaacs at Sumter's surprise, August eighteenth,
1780. He led his company at King's Mountain ; and on the
Raft Swamp expedition under General Rutherford, in the
fall of 1781. He was a wild, reckless man — long known
by the sobriquet of ''Devil John." He died in the
Tugalo region about 1810. His son, Benjamin Cleveland,
was long a prominent citizen of Habersham County,
Georgia, a member of the Legislature, an officer in the
Creek war, and rose to the rank of a General in the militia.

Jesse Franklin, a Captain and Adjutant in the regiment
of his uncle, Colonel Cleveland, was born in Orange
County, Virginia, March twenty-fourth, 1760. He settled
in Surry County, North Carolina, about 1777, and shared
largely with his uncle in the Tory warfare of the times.
On one occasion, a Tory party under Jo. Lasefield captured
him, and had him ready to swing off, when he said. " You
have me completely in your power ; but if you hang me, it
will prove the dearest day's work you ever performed ; for
uncle Ben. Cleveland will pursue you like a blood-hound,
and he will never cease the chase while a solitary one of

AND ITS HEROES. 459

you survives." Though they hung him, the bridle with
which they did it broke, and he fortunately dropped into
the saddle of his horse, bounded away and escaped. Be-
sides his service at King's Mountain, he participated in
Guilford battle, and attained to the rank of Major before
the close of the war. He was ten years a member of the
House of Commons, and two of the State Senate ; two years
in the lower house of Congress, and twelve in the Senate,
retiring in 1 813. In 18 16, he was appointed by President
Madison a Commissioner to hold a treaty with the Chick-
asaws ; and, in 1820, he was elected Governor of North
Carolina, serving one term, when his health failing, he
declined further public service, and died September twenty-
ninth, 1823, in his sixty-fourth year. " He was distin-
guished." says Wheeler. " for his sincere patriotism, sound
sense, and unassuming deportment."

William Lenoir, of French descent, was born in Bruns-
wick County, Virgina, May twentieth, 1751, early removing
with his parents to near Tarboro, North Carolina, where
he grew to years of manhood. In March, 1775, he settled
in what subsequently became Wilkes County ; served as a
Lieutenant on Rutherford's Cherokee campaign, a Captain
at King's Mountain, and at Pyle's defeat ; rising, after the
war, to the rank of Major General in the militia, and serving
many years as Magistrate, Clerk of the Court, County
Register, County Surveyor, and Trustee of the State Uni-
versity ; three years a member of the House of Commons,
and seven of the State Senate. He died at Fort Defience,
May sixth, 1839, nearry eight-eight years of age. He was
a man of probity, patriotism and sterling worth ; and a
County in North Carolina worthily perpetuates his name.

John Barton was an early Wilkes settler, commanding
a company in Cleveland's regiment at King's Mountain.
He was many years a Magistrate of that County ; and,
about 1785, he removed to the Tugalo region, on the west-
ern borders of South Carolina, where he died in 1827, aged

460 KING 'S MO UNTAIN

about seventy years. His remains are interred on the,
eastern slope of Chauga creek, about two miles above
Colonel Cleveland's burial place, on his old farm, now
owned by Thomas Jenkins.

William Meredith, of Welsh descent, a native of Louisa
County, Virginia, early migrated to the Yadkin country,
where he became a neighbor of Colonel Cleveland. He
was appointed an Ensign in 1776, and took an active part
in the war, commanding a company under Cleveland at
King's Mountain. He is remembered at a period after the
war as a school teacher ; and, afterwards removed to the
Tugalo country, where he left worthy descendants.

Miner Smith fought heroically at the head of his com-
pany at King's Mountain, where he wras wounded ; and he
served, in the autumn of 1781, under General Rutherford,
on the Raft Swamp expedition. He disappeared from the
Wilkes and Surry region soon after the war — probably
migrating to the Tugalo region. Of William Jackson, an-
other of Cleveland's King's Mountain Captains, we have
no knowledge.

John Brown was born in Derry County, Ireland, in 1738 ;
migrated to Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, about 1763,
where he taught school awhile, and married Jane McDowell.
He subsequently removed to Salisbury, North Carolina,
and, about 1770, to the Wilkes region on Yadkin. He was
among the first board of Magistrates, when Wilkes became
a County in 1778; served under Cleveland at King's Moun-
tain, it is believed as a Captain ; and three times represented
the County in the House of Commons. He died in Wilkes
County, in 181 2, leaving many worthy descendants. Colonel
H. A. Brown, of Maury County, Tennessee, is his grand-
son.

Samuel Johnson was born near Richmond, Virginia, in
1757, and early settled in the Upper Yadkin Valley. He
served as a private on Rutherford's Cherokee campaign in
1776; about 1779 he commanded a mounted Company

AND ITS HEROES. 461

against Tories in the Fayetteville region, In 1 780 he served
on Cleveland's New river expedition, and led his company
on the King's Mountain campaign ; but as the companies
were reduced in the re-organization, leaving the footmen
behind, he acted in the battle as Lieutenant in Joel Lewis'
company. His unique, but effective command in the battle,
was: " Aim at the waistbands of their breeches, boys!"
He was badly wounded in the action. In 1 781, he aided in
capturing and breaking up Captain Riddle's band of Tories.
He was placed on the invalid pension roll in 1809, and died
in Wilkes County, September, fifteenth, 1834, m n*s
seventy-seventh year.

David Witherspoon was a subordinate officer — perhaps a
Lieutenant — in Cleveland's regiment at King's Mountain,
and his younger brother, John, was a private. They were
of Scotch origin, natives of New Jersey, David born in
1758, and John in 1760 — collateral relatives of John Wither-
spoon, President of Princeton College, and a signer of the
Declaration of Independence. Early settling in the Yadkin
country, they served on Rutherford's Cherokee cam-
paign of 1776, and both followed the fortunes of Cleveland
in his warfare against Indians, British and Tories. Their
captivity by the Tory Captain Riddle, in the Spring of 178 1,
led to the breaking up of that dangerous gang of freeboot-
ers, as already related. After the war, these brothers rep-
resented Wilkes County two years each in the House of Com-
mons. David Witherspoon was long an honored Magis-
trate, and died while on a visit to South Carolina, in May,
1828 ; and his brother, who many years before had removed
first to Williamson, then Wayne County, Tennessee, died
there about 1839.

Major Joseph Herndon, who commanded the footmen,
in the rear, on the King's Mountain expedition, was born
near Fredericksburg, Virginia, about 1751 . He commanded
a company on frontier service in 1776 ; was the first County
Surveyor and County Trustee of Wilkes, as well as a

462 KING \S MO UNTAIN

member of the County Court. In 1782, 1788, and 1793,
he was a member of the House of Commons, and in 1788
a member of the North Carolina Convention. He was a
noted gunsmith in his day. He died in Wilkes County in
the summer or autumn of 1798.

Richard Allen was born in Baltimore County, Maryland,
November twenty-sixth, 1741 ; settled in what was subse-
quently Wilkes County in 1770; became a Sergeant in
1775 ; served on the Cross Creek expedition in February,
1776; early in 1780 he commanded a company for the
relief of Charleston ; then went in pursuit of Bryan's
Tories ; and led his company on the King's Mountain cam-
paign, but was prevailed on to remain with the footmen in
the rear. He served a tour of duty early in 1781 under
General Greene. He was the first Sheriff of Wilkes
County, and a member of the House of Commons in 1793.
He attained to the rank of Colonel in the militia, and died
in Wilkes County, October tenth, 1832, in his ninety-first
year.

Elisha Reynolds was born in what became Wilkes
County, in April, 1755. He served on Rutherford's cam-
paign in 1776 against the Tories gathered at Ramsour's, in
June, 1 780; and shortly after against the Tories on New
river. He was with the footmen, in the rear, on the
King's Mountain campaign ; and shortly after Colonel
Cleveland's capture by the Tories, early in 1781, he went
with Captain Johnson and others, and broke up the Tory
gang who captured him. He was a Lieutenant in the latter
part of the war, and rendered his country good service.
He died December thirteenth, 1836, in his eighty-second
year.

AND ITS HEROES. 463

CHAPTER XX.

Laeey and Other Whigs. — British and Tory Leaders.

Lacey, Hawthorne, Tate, and Moffett. — Williams, Hammond, Hayes,
Dillard, Thompson, and Candler. — Brandon, Sieen, and Roebuck, —
Maj. McDowell, Capt. McDowell, Kennedy, Vance, and Wood. —
Hampton, Singleton, Porter, Withrow, Miller, and Watson. —
Hambright, Graham, Chronicle, Dickson, Johnston, White,
Espey, Martin, and Mattocks. — British and Tory Leaders.

Sumter's Men Under Laeey and Hawthorn.

Edward Lacey was born in Shippensburg township,
Pennsylvania, in September, 1742; and when only thirteen,
fascinated with the appearance of soldiery, he ran away,
joined the Pennsylvania troops, serving in the pack-horse
department, and was in Braddock's defeat. After two
year's absence, his father found and took him home. When
sixteen, he again ran away, emigrating to Chester District,
South Carolina, with William Adair, to whom he bound
himself to learn the trade of brick-laying, and from whom
he received a good English education. In 1766, he married
Jane Harper, and settled on the head waters of Sandy
river, six miles west of Chester Court House.

He became a Captain on the breaking out of the Revo-
lution, and served on Williamson's Cherokee Campaign ;
and when news reached them of the Declaration of
Independence, he read that patriotic paper to the arm}'.
He lead the detachment that defeated the British Captain
Huck, and served with Sumter at Rocky Mount, Hanging
Rock, Carey's Fort, and Fishing Creek. At King's Moun-
tain, he led the Chester troops, losing his horse in the action,

464 KING 'S MO UNTAIN

which was replaced with one of Ferguson's chargers. He
again served under Sumter at Fish Dam Ford and Black-
stocks ; on Sumter's rounds early in 1781, at Orangeburg,
Biggin Church, Qiiinby Bridge, and Eutaw, and never
received a wound, as a gipsey woman assured him, when
a youth, that he would not, though destined to pass through
many a battle, but would finally get drowned. After the
war, he was chosen a Brigadier-General of the militia, a
Judge of the County Court, and served many years in the
Legislature. In 1797, he migrated first to West Tennessee,
and two years later to Livingston County, Kentucky, where
he was made County Judge ; and was thrown from his horse
while in a fit of catalepsy, in crossing the swollen waters
of Deer Creek, and drowned, March twentieth, 1813, at the
age of seventy-one years. His widow pined away, surviv-
ing her husband only two months. Of their eleven children,
ten grew to years of maturity. ''General Lacey," says
Mills' Statistics of South Carolina, " was a cool, intrepid
officer, and rendered important services to the State."

James Hawthorn was born in Armagh County, Ireland
about 1750, whose father and family early migrated to the
frontiers of South Carolina, where the mother, two daugh-
ters and her young son, then about twelve years of age,
were captured by the Indians — the mother and girls were
killed. James Hawthorn was at length surrendered by the
Indians, learned the blacksmith's trade in York County,
South Carolina, where he married Mary, a daughter of
Colonel Thomas Neel. He took an active part in the Revo-
lution, serving in NeeFs regiment on the Snow campaign
in 1775, on Williamson's Indian expedition in 1776, and as a
Captain on the Florida campaign of 1778-79. He served
under Sumter at Rocky Mount, Hanging Rock, Carey's
Fort, and Fishing Creek.

As Colonel Hill was unable, from a former wound, to
lead his regiment at King's Mountain, it devolved on his
Lieutenant-Colonel Hawthorn to do so. He was subse-

AND ITS HEROES. 465

quently with Sumter at Fish Dam Ford and Blackstock's,
and was wounded on Sumter's rounds in February, 1 781 ;
and received a second wound during the course of the war.
In after years he migrated to Livingston County, Kentucky,
where he lost a fine property, being on the bond of a default-
ing Sheriff, and where he died in the latter part of 1809,
about fifty-nine years of age. He left several children.

Samuel Tate, who was the Brigade-Major of Sumter's
brigade, of which Lacey's and Hawthorn's men formed a
part, was of Irish descent on his father's side, and of
English on his mother's. He was born and raised on the
Santee, near Vance's Ferry, in Orangeburg District, South
Carolina, and served under Sumter during the Revolution.
He shared in the glory of King's Mountain ; and died at the
old homestead, near Vance's Ferry, about 1798.

John Moffett was born, about 1742, probably in the Val-
ley of Virginia. He early settled in Chester County, South
Carolina, and served as a Captain on the Snow campaign,
and against the Cherokees in 1776. He was under Sumter
in his operations in the summer of 1780, particularly distin-
guishing himself at Fishing Creek. His company formed a
part of Lacey's regiment at King's Mountain ; he afterwards
served with Sumter, and also at the Cowpens, attaining the
rank of Colonel before the close of the war. He died in
DeKalb County, Georgia, in 1829 aged about eighty-seven
vears.

Williams, Hammond, Hayes, Dillard, and Candler.

James Williams, son of Daniel and Ursula Williams —
the father a native of Wales — was born near the old Fork
Church, Hanover County, Virginia, in November, 1740.
His education was very limited, and his parents dying, he
early migrated to Granville County, North Carolina, where

466 KING'S MO UNTAIN

his brother, Colonel John Williams was a distinguished
jurist, as was also his cousin, Colonel Richard Henderson.
Colonel Joseph Williams, of Surry County, in that Province,
was also his cousin. Marrying a Miss Clarke, about 1762,
he ten years later removed to Little River, in now Laurens
County, South Carolina, where he engaged in the combined
avocations of farmer, miller and merchant.

Taking a decided part against the mother country , he
was chosen one of the representatives, in January, 1775, of
the Broad river and Saluda district, to the South Carolina
Congress ; and soon after one of the local Committee of
Safety, and served as a Captain on the Snow campaign in
suppressing the Tories. In 1776 he was made Lieutenant-
Colonel of Militia, and served on Williamson's expedition
against the Cherokees. In 1778, he was defeated for State
Senator by the strong Tory influence in his section ; and that
year led his regiment on the abortive Florida campaign. In

1779, he shared in the affairs at Brier Creek, Stono Ferry,
and Savannah, receiving in the latter a spent ball on his
forehead. The same year he served on an expedition
against the Cherokees, and was engaged a while in guard-
ing prisoners at Ninety Six. He served under Sumter, in

1780, as Commissary, on his expeditions against Rocky
Mount and Hanging Rock ; then at Musgrove's Mill, and
closing his useful life at King's Mountain, where he re-
ceived a mortal wound, dying the next day, in his fortieth
year, leaving eight children, five sons and three daughters.

Fighting and dying, as he did, for his country, Colonel
Williams well deserves to be judged in charity. He was
every inch a patriot — and a man of strong religious feel-
ings. He was rough, rash and fearless, As a soldier, he
was much after the style of Cromwell, and Thomas J.
Jackson in more recent times ; and it may be added, that
his ambition for glory, mingled doubtless with a true love of
country, led him, perhaps unconsciously, to the use of
means, not over scrupulous, in the accomplishment of his

AND ITS HEROES. 467

ends. While he differed and chafered with Sumter, Hill
and their associates, yet when the tug of war came, he
plunged fearlessly into the thickest of the fight, and freely
poured out his blood, and yielded up his life, for his country.
Let his unquestioned patriotism, like a mantle of charity,
cover all his seeming short-comings. The historian, Ban-
croft, speaks of him as "a man of exalted character, of a
career brief but glorious. An ungenerous enemy revenged
themselves for his virtues by nearly extirpating his family ;
they could not take away his right to be remembered by
his country with honor and affection to the latest time."

Samuel Hammond was born in Richmond County, Vir-
ginia, September twenty-first, 1757 ; was at the battle of
Point Pleasant, in 1774, anc* at the Great Bridge, in Decem-
ber, 1775. After serving under General Hand at Pittsburg,
in 1777-78, he went south, opposing the British in Georgia,
at Stono Ferry, and Savannah, in 1779; in 1780, at Cedar
Spring, Musgrove's Mill, King's Mountain and Black-
stocks ; in 1781, at Augusta, Ninety Six, and Eutaw, where
he was wounded, retiring from the service at the end of the
war with the rank of Colonel of Cavalry. He filled many
public positions ; in Georgia, a member of the Legislature,
commanding against the Indians, and serving a term in
Congress ; in Missouri, Receiver of Public Moneys, Presi-
dent of the Territorial Council, and member of the Conven-
tion that formed the first Constitution ; and in South Carolina,
a member of the Legislature, Surveyor General, and Sec-
retary of State. He died near Hamburg, in that State,
September eleventh, 1842, nearly eighty-five years of age.
His services in the Revolutionary war were highly impor-
tant to the country.

Joseph Hayes, of Laurens County, South Carolina,
served first as a Captain, and then as Lieutenant-Colonel,
in all, or nearly all, the services performed by Colonel Wil-
liams— in Georgia, Brier Creek, Stono, a campaign against
the Cherokees, and at Savannah; and in 1780, at Hanging

468 KING'S MO UNTAIN

Rock, Musgrove's Mill, and King's Mountain, when he
succeeded to the command of the regiment on the death of
Colonel Williams, and served at Blackstock's, Hammond's
Store, and Cowpens. On the nineteenth of November, 1 781 ,
while Colonel Hayes, Captain Daniel and Joseph Williams —
sons of Colonel Williams, respectively eighteen and fourteen
years of age — with several others, were besieged at Hayesc
Station by Bloody Bill Cunningham, the buildings were
fired, and the unhappy inmates forced to surrender, on con-
dition of being treated as prisoners of war. When, in vio-
lation of the pledges made them, Colonel Hayes and Captain
Williams were about to be hung to the pole of a fodder
stack, little Joseph Williams cried out in his heart's agony,
"Oh! brother Daniel, what shall I tell mother!" "You
shall tell her nothing, you d — d Rebel suckling!" retorted
Cunningham, as he hewed him down. Hanging Hayes
and the elder Williams, the pole broke, when the bloody
monster cut and slashed with his sword, hacking them to
pieces. Eleven others perished in the same manner at the
hands of Cunningham and his men.

James Dillard was born in Culpeper County, Virginia,
about 1755, removing to what is now Laurens County,
South Carolina, about 1772. He served as a private in
1775, and, in 1776, in the defence of Charleston. In 1778,
he went on the Florida expedition as Sergeant-Major, and
served on the frontiers in 1779. ^e was cn°sen a Captain
in Williams' regiment in August, 1780, serving at King's
Mountain, Hammond's Store and Cowpens, and, in 1782,
on Picken's expedition against the Cherokees. His heroic
wife, Mrs. Mary Dillard, gave Sumter notice of Tarleton's
approach toward Blackstock's. He became a Major in the
militia, and died December fourth, 1836.

John Thompson, of York County, who had served as a
Captain at Rocky Mount, Hanging Rock and Fishing
Creek, commanded a company under Williams at King's
Mountain, and subsequently fought at Cowpens. Gabriel
Brown was another of Williams' Captains.

AND ITS HEROES. 469

Major William Candler, who with Captains Carr and
Johnston, commanded the small party of Georgians at
King's Mountain, and probably under Colonel Williams,
was born of English parents, at Belfast, Ireland, in 1738,
and was brought to Virginia when a mere child. He mar-
ried in 1 761, Elizabeth Anthony ; and the next year mi-
grated to Georgia. In 1 77 1, he was a Deputy Surveyor.
During the war, he served under Colonel Clarke — was in the
attack on Augusta, at King's Mountain, and Blackstocks,
and rose to the rank of Colonel. He was a member of the
Legislature in 1784 and 1785 ; was appointed a Judge ; and
died at his seat, in Columbia County, in September, 1789,
at the age of fifty-one years, leaving several children, his
oldest son Henry, having served with him in the war.

Brandon, Steen, and Roebuck.

Thomas Brandon, of Irish descent, was born in Pennsyl-
vania in 1 741 — his parents, with a colony of Irish Presby-
terians, emigrated from that Province to what is now Union
County, South Carolina, at the period of 1754-55, and had
for several years to fort against the turbulent Cherokees.
Serving in the early part of the Revolution, he rose, in
1780, to the command of a regiment, acting much under
Sumter. Retiring from that service, with Colonel Williams,
he shared in the affair at Musgrove's Mill, then at King's
Mountain, Blackstock's, and Cowpens — in the latter killing
three of Tarleton's dragoons with his sword. After the
war, he was a Justice of the Court, County Ordinary,
General of the militia, and frequently a member of one or
the other branch of the Legislature. He was a good
soldier, but, like Cleveland, a bitter enemy of Tories, who
received little mercy at his hands. He died at his resi-
dence on Fair Forest, February fifth, 1802, in the sixty-first
year of his age.

James Steen, also of Irish descent, was probably a

470 KING 'S MO UNTAIN

native of Pennsylvania, and early settled in what is now
Union County, South Carolina. In August, 1775, he " was
fully convinced, and ready to sign the Continental associ-
ation," and doubtless led a company on the Snow cam-
paign, as he did the following year against the Cherokees,
and, in 1777, commaned at Prince's Fort. In 1779, he
served in Georgia, then at Stono, and Savannah ; and per-
formed a tour of duty from November in that year till Febru-
ary, 1780, near Charleston. At this period, he ranked as
Lieutenant-Colonel, distinguishing himself at Rocky Mount,
Hanging Rock, Musgrove's Mill, King's Mountain, and
probably with his superior, Colonel Brandon, at the Cow
pens. In the summer of 178 1, while endeavoring to arrest
a Tory, in Rowan County, North Carolina, he was stabbed
by an associate, surviving only a week.

Benjamin Roebuck was born in Orange County, Vir-
ginia, about 1755. His father, Benjamin Roebuck, Sr.,
settled in Spartanburg County, South Carolina, in 1777;
and the next year the younger Roebuck served as a Lieu-
tenant in Georgia, and was at Stono and Savannah. In
1780, he joined Sumter, and was at Hanging Rock, and
subsequently at Musgrove's Mill, commanding a company
at King's Mountain, and distinguishing himself at Cowpens,
where he had a horse shot under him. About this time, he
was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel ; and in a
fight at Mud Lick with the Tories, March second, 1 781, he
was badly wounded, the ball penetrating under the shoulder
blade, could not be extracted. He was then made prisoner,
and conveyed to Ninety Six, where he was incarcerated
during the siege. He was subsequently taken to Charles-
ton, and placed on board a prison ship. In August follow-
ing, he was exchanged, and returned home. He died,
unmarried, in 1788, from the effects of his wound. Hon.
Simpson Bobo, of Spartanburg, South Carolina, is his
nephew.

AND ITS HEROES. All

McDowell and his Officers.

Joseph McDowell, Sr., of Scotch-Irish descent, was
born in Ireland in 17 15 — reared a weaver, married Mar-
garet O'Neil, and early migrated to Pennsylvania. He
soon after settled in Winchester, Virginia, where his sons,
Charles and Joseph, were born — the latter in 1756. A
brother of the elder Joseph McDowell, known in after
years as " Hunting John McDowell," early removed to the
Catawba Valley, settling that beautiful tract, Pleasant
Garden, sometime prior to 1758; and at some period not
very long thereafter, his brother Joseph McDowell, Sr.,
followed to that wild frontier region, locating at the Quaker
Meadows, where his family was reared.

In February, 1776, Joseph McDowell, Jr., young as he
was, went in his brother's regiment — some accounts state
as Major — on the expedition against the Scotch Tories. In
July, the Cherokees burst upon the Catawba settlements,
killing thirty-seven persons on the tenth and eleventh of
that month, and beleaguering a fort, in which were Colonel
and Major McDowell, with nine other men, and a hundred
and twenty women and children ; the Indians were driven
off. Major McDowell served, in the ensuing fall, in
his brother's regiment, on Rutherford's campaign against
the Cherokees; in 1779, on the Stono expedition; early in
1780, after the Tories, sharing in the victory at Ramsour's
Mill — "the same Joseph McDowell," says the old pen-
sioner, Joseph Dobson, " who was afterwards General,"
He was next in service at Earle's Ford on Pacolet, at Mus-
grove's Mill, King's Mountain and Cowpens. He served
a tour, in the spring of 1781, against Cornwallis. In
August, 1 78 1, and again in March, 1782, Major McDowell
led expeditions, chastising the Cherokees ; and in the fall
of 1782, he commanded the Burke regiment on a campaign
against the same troublesome tribe, under the leadership
of his brother, General McDowell.

472 KING 'S MO UNTAIN

Colonel McDowell, and his cousin of the same name,
were both much engaged in the public service — the former
distinguished from the latter, while in the State Legislature,
by the appendage of " Jr." to his name. In Burke County
they were familiarly known as "Quaker Meadow Joe," or
''Congress Joe," and the other as "Pleasant Garden Joe."
Colonel McDowell, of the Quaker Meadows, and afterwards
of John's river, served in the House of Commons in 1787,
1788, 1791, and 1792 ; and in 1788, he was amemberofthe
State Convention for the consideration of the Federal Con-
stitution. He served two terms in Congress, 1793-95, and
1797-99, taking an active part in the debates of that body
against the Alien and Sedition laws, and other Federal
measures of that day. In 1797, he was a Commissioner for
running the boundary line between North Carolina and
Tennessee.

His death occurred at his home, of apoplexy, August
eleventh, 1801, in the forty-fifth year of his age; and he
was buried at the Quaker Meadows, where some rude
stones, and a large tree at the head of his grave, mark the
place of his repose. He married Margaret, daughter of
Colonel George Moffett, of Virginia, leaving two sons and
six daughters. " He was," says Moore, the North Caro-
lina historian, "the recognized leader of the Republican
party in the western Counties, and was as eminent for his
sagacious leadership in civil matters as he had been dauntless
and successful in the late war. He was no inconsiderable
an antagonist in debate, and throughout his life he was the
idol of the western people of North Carolina."*

*That it was Joseph McDowell, of the Quaker Meadows, who commanded the Burke
troops at King's Mountain, has been called in question — not by any of his associate heroes
of the Revolution, nor by the historians of the country, but chiefly by the descendants
of his namesake-cousin and brother in-law, of Pleasant Garden. Both having borne the
same name, resided in the same County, and both having unquestionably served in that
battle— the younger, of Pleasant Garden, as a Captain under his elder cousin — have led
to the confusion and mistake. The descendants of the Captain, who fought in the battle,
and brought home as trophies some of Ferguson's table set, still preserved in the family,
have drawn therefrom the erroneous conclusion, that he was the Major who commanded
the Burke troops on that service.

AND ITS HEROES. 473

Of Major McDowell's officers, only brief reference can
be made. Joseph McDowell, his cousin, son of " Hunting
John McDowell," was born at Pleasant Garden, February
twenty-fifth, 1758. He served on Rutherford's campaign,
killing an Indian ; on scouts against the Indians in Burke
County, and commanded a company at King's Mountain.
He was a member of the North Carolina Convention of
1788, making several able speeches. He married Mary
Moffett, dying in April, 1795, leaving several children. He
was a physician by profession, and is regarded as having
possessed the brightest intellect of any of the connection.

Thomas Kennedy was born in 1756, and settled when

Colonel Shelby, in his narrative cited by the Tennessee historians, Haywood and
Ramsey, and in his pamphlet of 1823, states that Major McDowell, who was at King's
Mountain, was the brother of Colonel Charles McDowell; and no less than three survivors
of McDowell's command, Captain David Vance, John Spelts, and James Thompson, make
the same assertion, fully corroborated by R.obert Henry and Benjamin Sharp, two other
King's Mountain men. The coincidence of Spelts and Sharp about Major McDowell
freely permitting the soldiers to burn his rails at camp at the Quaker Meadows, confirms
this view of the matter; as does the anecdote of the treatment of the British captive
officers, at the Quaker Meadows, by Mrs. McDowell, the mother of the Major. Henry
Rutherford, son of General Rutherford, and General Thomas Love, of Buncombe, both
well acquainted with General Joseph McDowell, declared that he was the brother of Gen-
eral Charles McDowell, and the Burke leader at Kings Mountain. A letter of the late
Hon. N. W, Woodfin, whose lady was of the McDowell connection, makes the same state-
ment, confirmed by Misses Mary and Myra A. Dickson, granddaughters of General
Charles McDowell; and also by Hon. J. C. Harper, derived from Col. Wm. Davenport,
who well knew all the McDowells. The late Hon. Joseph J. McDowell, of Ohio, and
Harvey H. McDowell, Sr., late of Missouri, sons of General Joseph McDowell, never had a
doubt on the subject. The venerable Mrs. Samuel P. Carson, who from her McDowell and
Carson connection, has had good opportunities for learning the family traditions, declares
that it was Joseph McDowell, of the Quaker Meadows, who led the Burke troops at
King's Mountain. The historians, Haywood, Ramsey, Lossing, Wheeler, Hunter, Moore,
and Mrs. Ellet. all take the same view.

It has always been undoubted, that the Major McDowell of King's Mountain, was the
same who led the North Carolina troops at the Cowpens. Shelby states, in effect, that he
arranged for Major McDowell, who had served with him at King's Mountain, to join Mor-
gan's light troops ; and General James Jackson, in a letter extant, written in January, 1795,
endorsed by General Pickens, both of whom distinguished themselves under Morgan at the
Cowpens, and both of whom were associated with McDowell in Congress, refers to Colonel
McDowell, "now in Congress," as the commander of the North Carolina militia in that
battle.

If, therefore, the statements of those who shared in the campaign, and at Cowpens,
and all our historians who refer to the subject, are to be credited, Joseph McDowell, of the
Quaker Meadows, was unqestionably the Major who led the Burke troops at King's
Mountain. It was doubtless in recognition of his Revolutionary leadership, that he was.
in after years, made a General of the militia.

474 KING 'S MO UNTAIN

young in Burke County, North Carolina. He was early
made a Captain, and was wounded at Ramsour's Mills ; then
served atEarle's Ford on Pacolet, Cane Creek, King's Moun-
tain, and with Rutherford in the fall of 1781, when he was
made prisoner by the Tories. Removing to Kentucky, he had
a personal conflict with an Indian on a hill-side, rolling down
together, when Kennedy killed him. He served in the
Virginia and Kentucky Legislatures, and the Kentucky
Convention of 1792 ; became a General ; and died in Gar-
rard County, June nineteenth, 1836.

David Vance, of Scotch-Irish descent, was born in
Frederick County, Virginia, about 1748, early removed to
Burke County, North Carolina, where he taught school,
and became Surveyor, serving at Ramsour's, Musgrove's
Mill, and King's Mountain. He was a member of the
House of Commons in 1786 and 1791 ; then removed to Bun-
combe County, and in 1 797, was one of the Commissioners for
running the boundary line between North Carolina and
Tennessee, and became a Colonel in the militia. He died
about 1820. Hons. Z. B. and R. B.Vance, of North Car-
olina, are his grandsons.

Samuel Wood commanded a company at King's Moun-
tain, as did probably Joseph White, both of whom removed
to Lincoln County, Kentucky. Edmund Fear and John
Sigman were also Burke County Captains in McDowell's
corps.

Hampton and his Officers.

Andrew Hampton, a native of England, migrated first
to Virginia, and settled prior to 1 751, on Dutchman's Creek
on the Catawba, removing before the Revolution to what is
now Rutherford County, North Carolina. In 1770, he
was made Captain, in 1776, Lieutenant-Colonel, and Col-
onel, in 1779. While yet a Captain, early in 1776, he served
against the Scotch Tories; and early in 1779, pursued
Colonel John Moore's Tory party when they fled south.

AND ITS HEROES. 475

Early in 1780, he went to the relief of Charleston; subse-
quently served at Earle's Ford, Thicketty Fort, Cane
Creek, and commanded the Rutherford troops at King's
Mountain and Blackstock's. He was Sheriff of Rutherford
in 1782, and died in October, 1805, leaving many worthy
descendants.

Richard Singleton was born in Brunswick County, Vir-
ginia, about 1750, settling in what is now Rutherford
County, North Carolina, before the Revolution. He led a
company against the Scotch Tories ; acted as Major in 1780,
at Earle's Ford, Cane Creek, and King's Mountain ; and
on a campaign against the Cherokees, in March, 1782.
He served in both branches of the Legislature, in the Con-
vention of 1788, and as Sheriff of Rutherford County.
Near the close of the last century, he removed to Lincoln
County, Kentucky, where he died at a good old age.

James Porter, of Irish parentage, was born in Pennsyl-
vania, in 1744 ; settled early in Rutherford, serving as a Major
at King's Mountain, where he was wounded ; and subse-
quently removed to Greenville County, South Carolina,
where he survived many years, dying childless. His
brother, William Porter, was also at King's Mountain,
served nineteen years in the Legislature, and was killed by
lightning in 1817, at the age of seventy-one years. Robert
Porter, a cousin, and man of prominence, was probably an
officer at King's Mountain also.

James Withrow, a Captain under Hampton, was born
in Virginia, in 1746; settled early in Rutherford; served
against the Scotch Tories, at Stono, King's Mountain,
Blackstock's, and against the Cherokees. He served eight
years in the House of Commons, and died about 1836, at
the age of about ninety years, James Miller, of Irish
descent, a native of Pennsylvania, and George Ledbetter,
also commanded companies under Hampton at King's
Mountain. Miller did much service during the war, was
made a Colonel in 1781, repressing the Tories, and com-

476 KING }S MO UNTAIN

manded the Rutherford troops on the expedition against the
Cherokees in the fall of 1782. From 1782 to 1787, he was
four times State Senator ; and died while on a trip to
Charleston, about 181 2, at Cross Anchor, South Carolina.
Ledbetter was a mernber of the State Convention of 1788,
and shortened his days by too free use of spirituous liquors.*

Hambright, Chronicle and their Officers.

Frederick Hambright was born in Germany, in 1727,
and, when a youth, was taken to Pennsylvania about 1738.!
About 1755, he removed to Virginia, where he married
Sarah Hardin; and, about 1760, he migrated to North
Carolina, settling near the South Fork, forting awhile
against the Indians. In August, 1775, he was a member
of the Provincial Congress, He served as a Captain on
the frontiers in June, 1776; and, in the fall, on Ruther-
ford's Cherokee campaign. He was made Lieutenant-
Colonel in 1779 ; and, late in that year, he went to the relief
of Charleston, serving in Lillington's brigade, and retir-
ing before the surrender of the place. In 1780, he served
under Colonel McDowell in the Broad river region ; and
succeeding Colonel Graham, J; fought at King's Moun-
tain, where he was badly wounded ; and where his son
John also did service, rising to the rank of Captain before
the close of the war. Twice married, Colonel Hambright

*Major Patrick Watson commanded the Rutherford footmen in the rear, and thus failed
to participate in King's Mountain battle. A native of Pennsylvania, he settled in Ruther-
ford in 1764, and died December sixteenth, 1809, in his fifty-eighth year.

fin October, 1738, Adam and Conrad Hambright arrived at Philadelphia from Ger-
many with their families, and probably settled in Lancaster, where the Hambrights have
long been prominent citizens.

J William Graham, born in Augusta County, Virginia, in 1742, settled in North Caro-
lina before the Revolution; served in the Provincial Congress of 1775, and was appointed
Colonel of Tryon County, serving on the Snow campaign; then against the Scotch Tories,
and on Rutherford's Cherokee expedition He was chosen a member of the Halifax Con-
vention of 1776. In 1779-80, he went to the relief of Charleston; then served at Thicketty
Fort, Cedar Spring, and in defence of his dwelling against Tories. His retirement from
the army to visit his sick wife, a Httle before King's Mountain battle, and his hasty return
at its close, have been already related. He died near Shelby, North Carolina, March
twenty-sixth, 1835, in his ninety-third year, a pensioner for his Revolutionary services.

AND ITS HEROES. 477

was the father of eighteen children ; and died, in March,
1817, in the ninetieth year of his age.

William Chronicle was born on the South Fork of
Catawba, now Gaston County, North Carolina, about 1755.
In December, 1775, he marched at the head of a company
on the Snow campaign, and in 1779, to Georgia ; and after-
wards to the relief of Charleston. He was with General
Rutherford's rear at Ramsour's, then joining Sumter at
Clem's Branch awhile, he was engaged in chasing Tories
out of the country. He was probably with Graham at
Thicketty Fort and Cedar Spring ; and yielded up his
3roung life, while serving as Major, at King's Mountain.
He had attracted the attention of Colonel Campbell before
the battle. "He was," says General Graham, "a young
man of great promise " — the idol of his friends and soldiers.

Joseph Dickson, of Scotch-Irish stock, was born about
1745 : married Margaret McEwen, a Scotch lady, and
migrated to North Carolina before the Revolution, settling
first in Rowan County, and finally in what is now Lincoln.
He was a Captain in service as early as April, 1779 — and
probably much earlier. In June, 1780, he joined General
Rutherford, and was engaged in ridding the country of
Tories. He was in service under Colonel McDowell, in
South Carolina, during that summer; and served as
Major of the Lincoln men at King's Mountain. Early in
1 78 1, he opposed Cornwallis' invasion of North Carolina,
and was advanced to the rank of Colonel. He was in this
year chosen Clerk of Lincoln Court ; State Senator from
1788 to 1795 ; a General in the militia, and a member of
Congress from 1799 to 1801. He removed in 1803, to what
is now Caldwell County, and in 1806, to Rutherford
County, Tennessee, where he died April fourteenth, 1825,
aged about eighty years, and was buried with military and
masonic honors.

James Johnston, a native of Scotland, was born about
1742. His father, Henry Johnston, early settled in what is

478 KING >$ MO UNTAIN

now Lincoln County, North Carolina, where the son became
a Captain at the out-break of the Revolution, serving on the
Snow campaign ; was then chosen a member of the Provin-
cial Congress, of April, 1776; then served on the frontiers,
and on Rutherford's Cherokee expedition. Early in
1780, he had the personal conflict with the Tory, Patrick
Moore, related elsewhere ; and commanded a company at
King's Mountain. He served in the State Senate in 1780-82 ;
and died July twenty-third, 1805, leaving seven children.
Colonel William Johnston, of Charlotte, is his grandson.

Isaac White, of Scotch-Irish parentage, was born in
Chester County, Pennsylvania, in 1760; and migrated, with
his elder brother Thomas, to Lincoln County, North Caro-
lina, about 1779. Though young, James White was chosen
a Captain, and his brother the Lieutenant of the company ;
and served at King's Mountain and Cowpens. In 18 16, they
removed to Bond County, Illinois, James dying in 182 1,
aged sixty-one years, and Thomas in 1824, at the age of
seventy.

Samuel Espey was born in Cumberland County, Penn-
sylvania, May eighth, 1758 ; and, in 1770, his father removed
to what is now Lincoln County, North Corolina. He served
as a soldier in 1776, on the frontiers, and on Rutherford's
campaign. In 1779, he was again in service. Early in
1780, he was made a Captain in Graham's regiment, serving
at Cedar Spring and King's Mountain, where he had an arm
broken in the action. He again served awhile in the spring
of 1 78 1 ; and died in what is now Cleveland County,
December twenty-ninth, 1838.

Samuel Martin was born in Ireland in 1732, where he
married Margaret McCurdy, and migrated to Pennsylvania.
While there, he served in the old French and Indian war.
Removing to North Carolina, he served on the Snow cam-
paign in 1775 » on the frontiers in 1776; and went to the
relief of Charleston in 1779-80. In June, 1780, he was
made Captain, serving under Rutherford ; and was at the

OF THE
DN1VEHSJTV OF ILLINOIS

AND ITS HEROES. 479

capture of Rugeley's Tories, and at King's Mountain.
In 1 78 1, he opposed Cornwallis at Cowan's Ford, and after-
wards served awhile under General Pickens ; and then com-
manded a company under Colonel William Polk at Eutaw
Springs. Surviving his companion, he died in Gaston
County, November twenty-sixth, 1836, at the great age of
one hundred and four years.

We have no details of the prior life and services of Cap-
tain John Mattocks, of the South Fork, who was killed at
King's Mountain. His brother Charles participated with
him in the battle, and interceded for his Tory brother
Edward, who was severely wounded there, and cured of
his Toryism. After the war, the family removed to Georgia.

British and Tory Leaders at King's Mountain.

Colonel Ferguson has already been fully sketched in
this work. He was a Lieutenant-Colonel in the regular
army, and Inspector General of the Loyal Militia of South
Carolina, in consequence of which he was sometimes de-
nominated General. The epithet of "Bull-Dog Ferguson"
was well applied to him, as suggestive of his determination
and persistence.

Abraham DePeyster, the second in command at King's
Mountain, descended from an ancient and influential family,
was born in New York in 1753. He entered the Royal
service as Captain in the New York Volunteers — served in
the siege of Charleston, Musgrove's Mills, and in Ferguson's
operations during the summer and autumn of 1780, distin-
guishing himself at King's Mountain, where his life was
saved by a doubloon in his vest pocket, which stopped a
rifle ball, though the coin was bent by its force. He retired
on half-pay to New Brunswick, where he was Treasurer
and Colonel in the militia, dying about 1798. He was a
brave, vigilant, and enterprising officer.

Samuel Ryerson, another of Ferguson's Captains, was

480 KING 'S MO UNTAIN

a native of New Jersey, of Dutch descent, earl}' entered the
service as a Captain in the New Jersey Volunteers, was
wounded at King's Mountain, retired after the war to New
Brunswick, where he lived to a good old age.

John Taylor was born near Amboy, New Jersey, May
fifteenth, 1742; became a Lieutenant in the New Jersey
Volunteers — was assigned to Ferguson's corps, serving un-
der him during the campaign of 1780, and at King's Moun-
tain. He had his leg broken in some action in South
Carolina ; retired to Weymouth, Nova Scotia, where he
died November thirteenth, 1822, leaving descendants.

Anthony Allaire, of Huguenot descent, was born at New
Rochelle, Westchester County, New York, February
twenty-second, 1755 ; was commissioned a Lieutenant in
the Loyal American Volunteers, serving as Adjutant in Fer-
guson's corps, in the siege of Charleston, at Monks' Cor-
ner, and in the up-country of North and South Carolina,
sharing in the action of King's Mountain. The Diary he
left of the South Carolina campaign is a valuable contribu-
tion to history. He retired from the service in 1783, to
New Brunswick; and, in 1793, re-entered the service as
Lieutenant in the New Brunswick regiment, securing a
Captaincy in 1801, shortly before the disbandment of that
corps, when he retired on half-pay. He died on his farm,
near Fredericton, June ninth, 1838, leaving a daughter who
intermarried with Lieutenant John Robinson of the army.

Wm. Stevenson, a native of Monmouth County, New
Jersey, was first commissioned a Lieutenant in some Loyal
company in December, 1776, and transferred to the New
Jersey Volunteers ; serving in 1780, in Ferguson's corps,
at Charleston and King's Mountain. He retired to Nova
Scotia, and died at his old army associate's, Captain Tay-
lor's, at Weymouth, about 1818, quite advanced in years,
and without a family.

Duncan Fletcher was a New Yorker, a Lieutenant in
the Loyal American Volunteers — assigned to Ferguson's

AND ITS HEROES. 481

corps during the campaign of 1780, serving at King's
Mountain. He subsequently became a Captain ; and in
1784, was at Wilmot, Nova Scotia.

John McGinnis, who was killed at King's Mountain,
was an Ensign in the New Jersey Volunteers ; and, in Fer-
guson's corps, seems to have acted as Lieutenant for that
special service.

Dr. Uzal Johnson, son of Eliphalet Johnson, was born
in Newark, New Jersey, April seventeenth, 1757, where he
practiced his profession of medicine as early as 1776; in
which year he joined the New Jersey Volunteers as
Surgeon. He served with great benefit to Ferguson's
corps — and to the wounded Americans as well at King's
Mountain. After the war, he returned to Newark, and
practiced his profession till his death, May twenty-second,
1827, at the age of seventy years.

Of the Loyalist leaders but little can be gleaned from
history or tradition. Colonel Ambrose Mills, among the
unfortunates who were executed at Bickerstaff's, was born in
England, about 1722 and was taken while yet young to Mary-
land. He married Miss Mourning Stone, settling on James
River, and finally removing to the frontiers of South Car-
olina, where his wife was killed by Indians, during the Indian
war of 1755-61, leaving an only son, William. He afterwards
married Miss Anne Brown, of the Chester region, sister of
the wife of the noted Loyalist leader, Colonel Thomas
Fletchall ; and, about 1765, settled on Green River, in
North Carolina ; and by this second marriage had three
sons and three daughters. In 1776, he served against the
Cherokee Indians. In 1778, Colonel Mills and the notori-
ous David Fanning raised a corps of five hundred men with
the design of joining the Royal standard at St. Augustine,
when one of the party betrayed their plans. Mills and six-
teen others were apprehended, and conveyed to Salisbury
jail ; Fanning undertaking to rescue him on the way, but
his force proved too weak to effect the purpose. Mills was,

482 KING 'S MO UNTAIN

in course of time, liberated ; joined Ferguson with the
Loyal militia of his region, fought at Earle's Ford and
King's Mountain ; and, as viewed a century after the oc-
currence, he was too severely dealt with at BickerstafTs.
His descendants are amon^ the ablest and best citizens in
the South and South- West.

His son, William Mills, was born on James River, Vir-
ginia, November tenth, 1746. He was very popular, and
served in 1776 against the Indians. He acted as Major
under his father at King's Mountain, where he was badly
wounded, and left for dead ; and was subsequently saved
from being executed by the interference of leading Whigs
who knew his worth and goodness. In after years, he set-
tled in the mountain region of the south-western portion of
North Carolina on Clear Creek, in now Cleveland County.
Mills' River and Mills' Gap, in that section, were named
after him. He married early in life Eleanor Morris, by
whom he had two sons and five daughters. He was a
handsome, noble, generous man. He died, in consequence
of a fall from his horse on his birthday, November tenth,
1834, at tne aSe °f eighty-eight }^ears. He had lived a
happy married life of sixty-nine years — his venerable com-
panion surviving him.

Vezey Husbands, who was killed at King's Mountain,
and is said to have served as a Colonel there, lived near
Lower Creek of Catawba, in Burke County ; and was, per-
haps a relative of Herman Husbands, of Regulation war
notoriety, who was a native of Pennsylvania, of Quaker
descent.

William Green, who commanded a company at King's
Mountain, and whose escape from captivity has already been
related, was born on Buffalo Creek, in now Cleveland County,
near the State line, May sixteenth, 1753. He served up to
1780 as a Captain in the Whig cause ; was captured by the
Tories and held prisoner until released by their defeat at
Ramsour's. His only British service was at King's Moun-

AND ITS HEROES. 483

tain, which he deeply regretted ; and, to atone for the error,
he enlisted in Captain Levi Johnston's company, of ten
month's men under Sumter, in 1781-82, and shared in the
battle of Eutaw Springs. After the war, he served in the
House of Commons in 1798, and fourteen times in the
State Senate from 1800 to 1824. He died in Rutherford
County, November sixth, 1832, leaving many worthy
descendants.

Major Daniel Plummer, who was probably killed at
King's Mountain, lived between Fair Forest and Tyger, in
now Spartanburg County, South Carolina ; and was repre-
sented as " honest and open " — kind and considerate to all.
His estate was confiscated. Of Major Lee, who was in, and
survived the battle, we have no further information.
William Gist, a Tory Captain in the action, lived on Tyger
river, South Carolina ; was committed to jail at Charleston,
in 1776, for Toryism. His estate was confiscated ; but he
did not probably long survive the war, as the General
Assembly subsequently granted his wife and children five
hundred acres of any of his confiscated lands not already sold.
Captain Aaron Biggerstaff, of English descent, of Rutherford
County, was one of the Loyalist leaders at Ramsour's ;
escaping that disaster, he was mortally wounded at King's
Mountain, taken for treatment to what is now Union Court
House, where he died. From Allaire's Diary, we learn of
Captain Townsend, who resided a mile from the Island
Ford of Broad river. He received three balls in the battle,
and was paroled to his home.

APPENDIX.

Diary of Lieut. Anthony Allaire,

OF FERGUSON'S CORPS.

MEMORANDUM OF OCCURRENCES DURING THE
CAMPAIGN OF 1780.

Sunday , March 5th. The following corps marched from Savannah,
viz.: Light Infantry, commanded by Maj. Graham; American Volun-
teers, Lieut. Col. Ferguson; New York Volunteers, Lieut. Col. Turnbull;
North Carolinians, Lieut. Col. Hamilton; South Carolinians, Col. Innes ;
Dismounted Legion, Maj. Cochrane; one company of Georgia Dra-
goons, Capt. Campbell ; and the First Battalion of the Seventy-first
regiment, Maj. McArthur — in number about fifteen hundred.

We marched from Savannah at six o'clock in the morning ; arrived
at Cherokee Hill, nine miles from Savannah, at twelve o'clock, and
encamped to refresh ourselves. At three o'clock in the afternoon got
in motion, and marched to Abercorn, eight miles from Cherokee Hill ;
here we encamped and lay all night. Disagreeable, rainy weather.

Monday, 6th. At eight o'clock we got in motion, and marched to
Ebenezer, a village situated on Savannah river, eight miles above
Abercorn. It contains about twenty houses and a church. The inhabit-
ants are high Dutch. It is garrisoned by our troops; there are four
redoubts, but no cannon in any of them.

Tuesday, 7th. Remained at Ebenezer. Pleasant morning, showery
evening and very warm. Spent part of the evening with two Indian
Captains, John and James ; smoked tobacco and drank grog with those
two devils incarnate.

Wednesday , 8th. Still remained at Ebenezer. Orders to draw two
days' provisions, and be ready to march at reveille beating. Several
men taken suddenly ill with pain and swelling of the extremities,
occasioned by a weed that poisons where it touches the naked skin,
when the dew is on it.
484

APPENDIX. 485

Thursday, gth. The army got in motion ; passed a causeway three-
quarters of a mile in length, overflowed with water from two to three feet
deep. We marched to a plantation ten miles from Ebenezer, called the
Two Sisters, situated on Savannah river. It was formerly a public ferry ;
but at present nobody lives at it. The houses are destroyed.

Friday, 10th. The American Volunteers and British Legion marched
three miles up the Augusta road to Tuckasse-King. Here we encamped,
and took breakfast at ten o'clock in the morning. A Rebel Lieut.
Johnson with twenty men surrounded a poor man's house here this
morning. They heard we were in motion, but not being certain of it.
they came to find out the truth. They did no damage to the family ;
neither did they tarry long, being informed that we were in possession
of the Two Sisters, they thought it proper for the brothers to take them-
selves off. This is the first Rebel party we have heard of. At three
o'clock in the afternoon received orders to take the ground we left in the
morning, where I and part of the detachment lay all night. One divi-
sion crossed the river — the others to follow as expeditiously as possible.

Saturday, nth. Crossed the Savannah river ; such a fresh that the
boats were brought through woods a mile and a half; the water was
from four to ten feet deep, where in a dry time we might have marched
on dry ground. The horses were swum over the river — the current
sets down very rapid.

South Carolina, Sunday, 12th. Lay encamped a quarter of a mile
from the river in the field where Gen. Moultrie was encamped last
summer when our troops were retreating from Charleston. A foraging
party of the Dragoons fell in with some Rebel Light Horse ; and Mr.
Campbell of the Georgia Dragoons received a slight wound.

Monday, 13th. The American Volunteers and British Legion were
ordered forward twenty-six miles, to secure the passes of Bee creek,
Coosawhatchie and Tullyfinny Bridge, which we effected. This day
passed Turkey Hill, a pleasant country seat belonging to one Mr.
Middleton. We took up our ground at dusk, at Coosawhatchie Bridge,
where the Rebels opposed our troops last May and got defeated. A cool,
pleasant day for marching.

Tuesday, 14th. Found several horses, a quantity of furniture,
Continental stores and ammunition, hid in a swamp by one John
Stafford, a sort of Rebel commissary who lives at Coosawhatchie, and is,

by the by, a cursed fool, which alone prevents his being a d d rogue.

About five o'clock in the afternoon we crossed Tullyfinny Bridge, and
proceeded about six miles to Mr. McPherson's. Fifty of the militia
on horseback had just left this plantation and gone to John McPherson's.
A small party of ours pursued them, but could not come up with them,
Maj. Cochrane with the Legion were in pursuit of another party
of Rebels on another road ; but being mis-piloted, he arrived just before

486 ALLAIRE'S DIARY.

break of day in front of our picket. He immediately conjectured we
were the party he had been in pursuit of all night. He halted and made
a position with an intent to attack as soon as it began to be clearly light ;
but the alertness of our sentinels obliged them to come on sooner than
they intended. He immediately, on their firing, rushed on the picket;
they gave the alarm, but were driven to the house, where our men ready
for the attack, expecting it was Rebels, a smart skirmish ensued. The
sad mistake was soon discovered, but not before two brave soldiers of
the American Volunteers, and one of the Legion were killed, and
several on both sides badly wounded. Col. Ferguson got wounded in
the arm by a bayonet, Lieut. McPherson, of the Legion, in the arm and
hand.

Wednesday, 13th. Still remained at McPherson's plantation ; for-
aging parties get everything necessary for the army.

Thursday, 16th. Remained at McPherson's plantation, living on the
fat of the land, the soldiers every side of us roasting turkeys, fowls,
pigs, etc., every night in great plenty ; this Mr. McPherson being a great
Rebel, and a man of vast property, at present in Charlestown. About
thirty Rebels showed themselves this morning, a mile and a half
in front of us. A party went out in pursuit of them ; but returned
without effecting anything — the jockeys being on horseback easily made
off.

Friday. Still at McPherson's. Three militia men were brought in
prisoners by a scouting party of the American Volunteers, and a
number of horses. Received orders to march to-morrow morning.

Saturday, 18th. Marched from McPherson's plantation to Salt-
ketcher, a Rebel party consisting of eighty mititia, commanded by a
Maj. Ladson, placed themselves on the north side of the river to oppose
our crossing. They were amused by a company of the Legion returning
their fire across the river at the place where the bridge formerly was,
whilst the Light Infantry and remainder of the Legion crossed the river
below, and came in the rear of them before they were aware of it. Here
the bayonet was introduced so effectually that a Capt. Mills, and sixteen
privates of the Rebels, could not exist any longer, and of course gave
up the cause. Four were badly wounded, and one taken prisoner that
luckily escaped the bayonet. Maj. Graham, of the Light Infantry, and
Maj. Wright, of the Georgia Loyalists, slightly wounded. The former
continued to command his battalion, and the latter continued his march.
Two privates of the Light Infantry were also slightly wounded. We
remained all night at Ogilvies' plantation, on the side of the river called
Indian land. This day's march was very tedious — a disagreeable, rainy,
cold day, and through a swamp where the water was from two to three
feet deep.

Sunday, rgth. Passed Saltketcher river — where the bridge formerly

APPENDIX. 487

stood, but has been destroyed since the rebellion — in boats, and swam
the horses. The causeway on both sides of the river is overflowed with
water from two to three feet deep, at the ferry house, about a quarter of
a mile from the river. Dr. Johnson dressed the wounds of Maj. Wright
and the four Rebels that were bayoneted yesterday. Marched one mile
and a half to a tavern kept by Mr. Gibson, who is at present prisoner in
Charleston, for not taking up arms when his country so loudly calls for
assistance.

Monday, 20th. The army got in motion, marching about two miles.
Received orders to halt, the rear guard being fired on ; it proved to be
the York Volunteers, getting the boats on the carriages at the river, were
fired on by a skulking party of rascals on the other side of the stream.
Three poor lads of the York Volunteers were killed. What damage
was done to the Rebels we are not certain. Detained by this and
repairing of bridges on the road, we only marched seven miles this day.
Took up our ground at a place called Godfrey's savannah.

Tuesday, 21st. The army got in motion. Marched to Fish Pond
river. Here we were detained to repair the bridge till evening. Before
we crossed we moved on about three miles, through a swamp, over an
exceeding bad causeway. This day Col. Tarleton, with his dragoons,
joined us from Beaufort, where he had been to get horses — his beinp all
lost on the passage from New York. We took up our ground about
ten o'clock at night, and remained till ten o'clock next morning.

Wednesday , 22d. The army got in motion at ten in the morning,
and marched as far as Horse Shoe, where we again were detained to
repair the bridge. After crossing, continued our march to Jacksonsburgh,
a village containing about sixty houses, situated on Pon Pon, or Edisto
river. The most of the houses are very good ; the people tolerable well
to live ; some large store houses for rice, from which they convey it by
water to Charleston market. In short, it is a pleasant little place, and
well situated for trade, but the inhabitants are all Rebels — not a man
remaining in the town, except two, one of whom was so sick he could
not get out of bed, and the other a doctor, who had the name of a friend
to Government. The women were treated very tenderly, and with the
utmost civility, notwithstanding their husbands were out in arms against
us.

Thursday, 23d. All the army, except the Seventy-first regiment,
and greatest part of the baggage, crossed the river in boats and fiats, the
bridge being destroyed. Col. Tarleton came up with a party of Rebel
militia dragoons, soon after crossing the river at Gov. Bee's plantation.
He killed ten, and took four prisoners. Gov. Bee was formerly Lieut.
Gov. under His Majesty, is now one of the members of Congress, and
Lieut. Gov. of South Carolina.

Friday, 24th. The remainder of the baggage and Seventy-first

488 ALLAIRE'S DIARY.

regiment passed Pon Pon river. The army got in motion about one
o'clock in the afternoon, and marched about seven miles, where we
halted all night. A flag of truce, consisting of a Capt. Saunders, Capt.
Wilkinson, one private and a. servant, came in at the rear of the army.
Just as we halted they were severely reprimanded by Gen. Paterson for
their unmilitary conduct. He told them that they were ignorant of the
profession they followed ; and in consequence of their behavior he must
detain them all night, and, as to their request, it would not be granted,
which was likewise very unmilitary, it being to speak with the prisoners
and give them some necessaries. The gentry of the flag were led blind-
fold to their lodging. This day Col. Ferguson got the rear guard in order
to do his King and country justice, by protecting friends, and widows, and
destroying Rebel property ; also to collect live stock for the use of the
army, ^11 of which we effect as we go, by destroying furniture, breaking
windows, etc., taking all their horned cattle, horses, mules, sheep, fowls,
etc., and their negroes to drive them. We had a disagreeable night —
very heavy shower, with a great deal of heavy thunder and lightning.

Saturday, 25th. The army got in motion at reveille beating, and
marched to Stono, where was formerly a bridge, called Wallace's
Bridge. We took up our ground about three o'clock in the afternoon,
where we remained all night. Light Infantry and part of the Dragoons
went over the river.

Sunday, 26th. Consumed the whole day in passing the baggage and
live stock over the river, the bridge that formerly stood here being
destroyed, and the one just made very bad. We took up our ground as
soon as we got over, on a neck of land that runs down between Stono
and Rantowle's, only one mile between the two rivers. This day the
Commander-in-chief came to us from James Island, which is six miles
distant.

Monday, 27th. Two companies of Light Infantry, American Volun-
teers, and one company of Dragoons, crossed at Rantowle's in scows;
the rest of the army crossed yesterday. Col. Hamilton, of the North
Carolinians, and Dr. Smith, of the Hospital, proceeding about a mile in
front of the army, to Gov. Rutledge's house, were immediately sur-
rounded by three hundred Continental Light Horse, and they con-
sequently made prisoners. The British Dragoons fell in with them soon
after, and had a skirmish ; the Rebels soon gave way, and showed them
the road, as is customary for them to do. Qr. Master Sergeant Mcintosh,
of the Georgia Dragoons, badly wounded in the face by a broadsword.
Several Dragoons of the Legion were wounded. How many of the
Rebels got hurt we can't learn ; but they did not keep up the combat
long enough for many to receive damage. This morning, Capt.
Saunders, that came in with the flag on the 24th, was sent out; his
attendant, Capt. Wilkinson, not being mentioned in the body of the

APPENDIX. 489

flag, is detained as a prisoner of war. We took up our ground on Gov.
Rutledge's plantation, about one mile from his house, where we remained
all night.

Tuesday, 28th. The army got in motion about nine o'clock in the
morning, and marched to Ashley Ferry, where we met the British and
Hessians, Grenadiers, Light Infantry and Yagers, under command of Sir
H. Clinton. We continued our march down the river about six miles to
Lining's plantation; it is situated on Ashley river, nearly opposite
Charlestown, and commands an extensive view towards the sea.

Wednesday , 2gth. Sir Henry Clinton, with the British and Hessians,
Grenadiers, Light Infantry and Yagers, passed over Ashley river to
Charleston Neck, early in the morning. Spent the day in viewing
Charleston and found it not a little like New York; for Ashley and
Cooper rivers form a bay exactly like East and North river at New York.

Thursday ', 30th. Incessant firing of small arms on the neck ; can-
non at short intervals. This firing was at the Commander-in-chief and
his family reconnoitring. He forbid the British returning the fire. Lord
Cathness, standing by the side of Gen. Clinton, was shot through the
body by a musket ball; one Yager killed.

Friday, 31st. Engineers' tools, etc., carried over from Lining's
Landing, and broke ground without molestation, under direction of Maj.
Moncrieff. Rode two miles to see two redoubts, one of which has six,
and the other two thirty -two pounders in them, at the mouth of Wapoo-
Cut, a river that runs from Stono to Ashley river, and separates from the
main land what is called James Island. Those two redoubts are exactly
opposite Charleston.

Saturday, April 1st. Some cannon and mortars moved over Ashley
river from Lining's Landing.

Sunday, 2d. Rode down to view our fleet that lay at Stono.

Monday, 3d. Marched to Ashley Ferry to cover the Dragoons of the
Legion whilst crossing the river. Marched from this up the river to
Henry Middleton's plantation ; passed several famous country seats,
one called Drayton's Hall, belonging to William Henry Drayton,
deceased, who was a member of Congress, and died at Philadelphia.
Constant firing at our works from the Rebels all day.

Tuesday, 4th. Constant cannonade from the Rebels, both from their
batteries and shipping; one of their ships, endeavoring to move up
Cooper river, was fired on from our works, and drove back.

Wednesday, jth. Constant cannonade from the Rebels at our
works on the Neck, in the evening. Our batteries at the mouth
of Wapoo-Cut opened, and kept up a warm fire for a few minutes, then
the firing ceased on both sides.

Thursday, 6th. Cannonade from the Rebels all day by intervals.
In the evening our batteries opened on the Neck, and at Wapoo-Cut
fired all night by intervals.

490 ALLAIRE'S DIARY.

Friday, Jth. Cannonade at intervals as usual,

Saturday, 8th. But little firing from the Rebels. Rainy, disagree-
able morning. The Rebels were reinforced with thirteen hundred men
last night, commanded by a Gen. Scott. They fired a feu de joie, and
rang all the bells in town on the occasion. About four o'clock this
afternoon the fleet hove in sight, coming up under full sail with a fresh
breeze at south west, and passed Fort Moultrie — the Rebel fort that
they boasted of oji Sullivan's Island, which no fleet could ever pass.
They were but a few minutes passing. What damage is sustained we
have not yet learned. The Richmond lost her fore top-mast ; a cutter
lay opposite the fort all the time the fleet was passing, with a flag hoisted
to point out the channel. A heavy cannonade from the Rebels'
batteries, which the shipping returned as they passed with a spirit
becoming Britons.

Sunday, gth. Admiral Arbuthnot came on shore, and went over to
Head-quarters on the Neck. By him we were informed that there were
only seven men killed, and fifteen wounded, in passing Sullivan's Island.
The shipping damage was so trifling that 'twas not worth mentioning.

Monday, ioth. Nothing extraordinary. Cannonade from our bat-
teries during the night to cover the working parties.

Tuesday, nth. Col. Ferguson came from Head-quarters. Informs
us that the town was summoned to surrender to his Britannic Majesty.
Answer was returned, that they thought it necessary as well as their duty
to defend it to the last extremity, which they meant to do.

Wednesday, 12th. Received orders to march. The North Caro-
linians were ordered to join Col. Ferguson. We left Lining's plantation
about seven o'clock in the evening, and marched to Bacon's Bridge,
twenty-two miles, where we arrived at five o'clock on Thursday morning;
very much fatigued. We halted to refresh till seven. Cool weather.

Thursday, ijth. Got in motion at seven o'clock in the morning.
Marched through a small village called Dorchester. It contains about
forty houses and a church. Continued our march to Middleton's plan-
tation at Goose creek, about fifteen miles from Bacon's Bridge, and ten
from Dorchester. Here we met the Legion about one o'clock in the
afternoon, and halted till ten at night. Then, in company with them,
got in motion and marched eighteen miles to Monk's Corner, being
informed that Col. Washington's, Pulaski's, Bland's, and Horry's Light
Horse lay here. We arrived just as day began to appear on Friday
morning, and found the above enemy here, in number about four hun-
dred, including some militia that arrived the day before, commanded by
Gen. Huger. Luckily for them, they were under marching orders, which
made them more alert, when the alarm was given, than usual, which
alone prevented their being all taken completely by surprise. They
made off with great expedition. We pursued, overtook and killed

APPENDIX. 491

Pulaski's Major Vernier, wounded a French Lieut. Beaulait,* and one
other officer; about sixty privates were taken, fifteen or twenty of whom
were wounded. We had but one man wounded, and he very slightly.
We took thirty wagons, with four horses in each. A number of very
fine horses that belonged to their troops were likewise taken, and con-
verted to British Light horses. Col. Washington and all their officers
made but a narrow escape ; their baggage, letters, and some of their
commissions were taken.

Friday, 14th. Remained at Monk's Corner, collecting the stores,
etc. About seven o'clock at night, accidentally a store house caught
fire, in which were two casks of powder; was very much alarmed by the
explosion, and all got under arms. This confusion was scarcely over
when three ladies came to our camp in great distress : Lady Colleton,
Miss Betsy Giles, and Miss Jean Russell. They had been most shock-
ingly abused by a plundering villain. Lady Colleton badly cut in the
hand by a broadsword, and bruised very much. After my friend, Dr.
Johnson, dressed her hand, he, with an officer and twelve men, went to
the plantation, about one mile from camp, to protect Mrs. Fayssoux,
whom this infamous villain had likewise abused in the same manner.
There he found a most accomplished, amiable lady in the greatest
distress imaginable. After he took a little blood from her she was more
composed, and next morning come to camp to testify against the cursed
villain that abused them in this horrid manner. He was secured and
sent to Head-quarters for trial.

Saturday, 15th. The army got in motion about twelve o'clock. My
friend, Dr Johnson, and myself had the happiness of escorting the ladies
to their plantation. Before we got there we were met by a servant
informing us that there were more plunderers in the house. This news
so shocked Lady Colleton and Mrs. Fayssoux, who were some distance
before us, and the young ladies in a carriage, that I am not able to
describe their melancholy situation, which was truly deplorable. After
their fright was a little over we passed on to their house ; but the ladies
fearing to stay alone, Lady Colleton and Mrs. Fayssoux got into the
carriage, Miss Giles behind me, and Miss Russell on a horse, which I
led for fear he should make off with my fair one ; they passed on with us
four miles to a plantation called Mulberry Broughton, and here we bid
adieu to our fair companions with great regret, they thinking themselves
out of danger of any insults. We this day countermarched to the
twenty-three mile house, and halted all night.

Sunday, 16th. Got in motion about three o'clock in the morning,

•Beaulait has been very unfortunate since in America He received seven wounds by
a broadsword, in a charge of Campbell's Light Horse, when Charlestown was besieged by
Gen. Provost, and two at Monk's Corner, which amounts to nine, four or five of them in
the face.— A. A.

492 ALLAIRE'S DIARY.

and marched to Strawberry Ferry, a branch of Cooper river. Took up
the day in passing the army and baggage over the stream. After
crossing, marched four miles to Bono Ferry, another branch of Cooper
river, where we came up with the baggage of the Thirty-third and
Sixty-fourth Regiments, and of the Legion. Here we lay all night, as
it took up the night to get this baggage over the river. A Captain's
guard from our detachment was sent over to take charge of a store house
full of household furniture, brought out of town and deposited at a Maj.
Butler's for safety — the store was full of very rich furniture of all kinds.

Monday, iyth. Crossed Bono Ferry and passed on to Miller's
Bridge, over a branch of Wando river, where we took up our ground
about nine o'clock in the evening. This day passed St. Thomas'
church, where we met the Thirty-third regiment.

Tuesday, 18th. Began to fortify at the Bridge, and make a block
house in order to keep post here with a few men.

Wednesday, igth. Maj. Ferguson, with fifty of the American
Volunteers, and part of the North Carolinians, moved on to join the
Thirty-third and Sixty-fourth regiments, and the British Legion, which
had gone forward to attack a Rebel post at Lempriere's Point. The
British were coming back; they had marched up to the fort, but found
it so strong that it was imprudent to storm it with so few men.

Thursday, 20th. Remained at Miller's Bridge, finishing the block
house. Col. Tarleton surprised and took nine sloops with goods, stores,
etc., and twenty pieces of cannon.

Friday, 21st. Capt. Ryerson, with forty American Volunteers, a
subaltern, and twenty of the Thirty-third, and a subaltern, and twenty
of the Sixty-fourth regiments, remained at Miller's Bridge to defend
and keep the pass. The remainder of the Thirty-third and Sixty-
fourth regiments, American Volunteers, and British Legion, counter-
marched twelve miles and took up our ground at St. Thomas' church.

Saturday, 22d. Took possession of the parish house ; took up and
was under the disagreeable neccessity of detaining a lady of the town,
on suspicion of her being a spy.

January 2jd. Moved from the house into the woods for the con-
venience of shade — very warm weather.

Monday, 24th. Lord Cornwallis joined us and took command.
About ten o'clock in the evening there was the most tremendous
cannonade I ever heard, and an incessant fire of musketry. The
Rebels sallied out and took eight of the Light Infantry prisoners, upon
which the whole line got under arms; some in their hurry getting out
without putting on their coats, were taken by the others for Rebels, and
fired on, which unluckily occasioned warm work for a few minutes.
Sixty odd of ours got killed and wounded by our own men. The
Rebels were repulsed, and they finding their muskets rather an incum-
brance threw thirty odd of them away.

APPENDIX. 493

Tuesday, 25th. About eight o'clock in the morning got in motion ;
were joined by the Twenty-third regiment and Volunteers of Ireland.
We proceeded on, passed over Miller's Bridge and Waputa Bridge, took
possession of Waputa meeting house, about seven o'clock in the even-
ing, where we halted till two in the morning.

Wednesday, 26th. At two o'clock in the morning got in motion, and
marched seventeen miles to Mount Pleasant, opposite Charleston, where
we took possession of the ground, on which the Rebels had one eighteen
pounder. Here is a ferry from this to a town called Hibban's* Ferry ;
there are very good barracks here if finished, that were begun before the
rebellion. Sullivan's Island is about a half a mile distant from the Point.
There is a bridge from the Point to the Island with four arches. The
barracks were used for a hospital, in which we took some invalids and a
doctor. About six miles from the Point stands Christ Church. This
night I might properly sing, " Content with our hard fate, my boys,"
on the cold ground where I lay — wrapt up in my great coat, with my
saddle for a pillow. A blustering cold night.

Thursday, 27th. Got in motion about one o'clock in the morning,
and countermarched to Waputa meeting house. Cold north-east wind.

Friday, 28th. Fortified the small house by the side of the meeting
house, at ten o'clock at night. Intelligence being received that the
Rebels had left the fort at Lempriere's Point, and gone to Charleston,
we got in motion and marched down to discover the fact. We arrived
about four in the morning, and found the fort occupied by the Navy, a
Lieutenant of the Navy, commanding officer. The Rebels were gone
to Charleston.

Saturday, 2Qth. Countermarched to our old grounds at the meeting
house. Pleasant weather.

Sunday, jot/i. Got in motion at three o'clock in the morning, in
company with the York Volunteers, and marched to Lempriere's Point
to rake post there. We got to our ground about seven o'clock in the
evening, where we found four eighteen, two four pounders, and five
swivels, that the Rebels left in their fort. A very disagreeable post it is,
being nothing but a bank of sand, where, in a windy day, you must
keep your eyes shut or have them filled with sand. Here used to be a
ferry called Lempriere's Ferry.

Monday, May 1st. Bathed in Wando river.

Tuesday, 2d. Began to fortify Lempriere's Point. Maj. Ferguson,
with a detachment of American Volunteers, marched down to Mount
Pleasant, stormed and took possession of a little redoubt, located partly
on the main, and partly on the bridge that leads to Fort Moultrie. This
cuts off the communication from Sullivan's Island, and keeps them on
their proper allowance. The Rebels ran off from the redoubt, though it
was very strongly situated, after they fired about a dozen shot.

494 ALLAIRE 'S DIAR Y.

Wednesday, jd. Still fortifying Lempriere's Point. In the evening
began a cannonade on the neck, which continued very heavy all night —
an incessant firing of musketry, the cannon chiefly from the Rebels, small
arms from us. This night took their hospital ship that lay opposite
the town.

Thursday, 4th. Continued fortifying the Point. Rode from Lem-
priere's Point to Mount Pleasant; dined with Capt. Ord, of the Navy.
After dinner rode to Hurdle's [Haddrell's?] Point to view the redoubt
which Col. Ferguson stormed the second of May, with only sixty men
and never was more surprised in my life, for twenty men like the
American Volunteers would have defied all Washington's Army.

Friday, jth. Very windy — in danger of losing one's eyes by the
blowing of sand. Cold blustering night.

Saturday, 6th. Very disagreeable, windy day. Still at Lempriere's.
News just received from Lord Cornwallis, that Lieut. Nash and eleven
dragoons that were patrolling, were taken by Washington and Horry's
Light Horse near Santee river. Col. Tarleton was immediately ordered
to pursue them. He overtook them at the river ; charged and killed a
number, and took a Major and thirty privates. The patrolling party that
had been taken were in a boat, rowing across the river. Upon their
seeing Col. Tarleton, they immediately seized the guard, threw them
overboard, rowed themselves back and joined their regiment again.
Col. Washington and Horry took to the river and swam across it.

Sunday, yth. Orders to get ready to march with two days' provision,
at a minute's notice. Maj. Ferguson had obtained permission to attack
Fort Moultrie. He rode forward with four dragoons to reconnoitre*
We were to remain at our post till we got orders for marching. The first
news we heard was the fort was in possession of the British ; the Rebels
had surrendered themselves prisoners of war. Capitulation was as
follows : Capt. Hudson of the Navy summoned the fort on Friday, and
received for answer : " Tol, lol, de rol, lol : Fort Moultrie will be
defended to the last extremity." On Saturday he sent another flag, and
demanded a surrender, acquainting Col. Scott that the Lieutenant with
the flag would wait a quarter of an hour for an answer. If the fort was
not given up, he would immediately storm it, and put all the garrison
to the sword. At this Col. Scott changed the tune of his song, begging
that there might be a cessation of arms, that the fort would be given up
on the following conditions : that the officers both Continental and militia,
should march out with the honors of war, and be allowed to wear their
side arms ; the officers and soldiers of the militia have paroles to go
to their respective homes, and remain peaceably till exchanged ; and
the continental soldiers to be treated tenderly. Granted by Capt.
Hudson. About eight o'clock Sunday morning, Colonel Scott with his
men, about one hundred and twenty, marched out of the fort, piled

APPENDIX. 495

their arms, Capt. Hudson marched in, took possession of Fort Moultrie,
the key to Charleston harbor ; which puts it in our power to keep out
any forcing enemy that would wish to give the Rebels any assistance.
Taken in the fort, fifty barrels of powder, forty-four pieces of cannon,
one brass ten inch mortar, three thousand cannon cartridges, five
hundred ten inch shells, forty thousand musket cartridges, three month's
salt provision, a lot of rice, forty head black cattle, sixty sheep, twenty
goats, forty fat hogs, six wagons, two stand of colors, an amazing
quantity of lunt ; * and, in short, so many other articles which are

* Match-cord for firing cannon.

necessary in a fort that it would take me a week to set them down.

Monday, 8th. Six o'clock in the morning, Sir Henry Clinton sent in
a flag, and demanded the surrender of Charleston. General Lincoln
requested cessation of hostilities till eight o'clock — from eight to twelve ;
and the truce continued until four o'clock Tuesday evening when Sir
Henry Clinton receiving a very insolent request, sent in word that he
plainly saw that Gen. Lincoln did not mean to give up the town ; that the
firing should commence at eight o'clock in the evening, at which time
began a most tremendous cannonade, throwing of carcases and shells
into the town, and an incessant fire of musketry all night.

Wednesday, ioth. Firing still continued all day, and very brisk all
night.

Thursday, nth. The town set on fire by a carcase, which burnt
several houses. The Rebels sent out a flag soon after; our firing con-
tinued without taking notice of their flag. They showed the second flag,
which we accepted. It was begging the terms that had been offered the
last truce. Sir Henry Clinton answered them the firing should cease
until he could send and consult Admiral Arbuthnot. The terms were
granted.

Friday, 12th. The gates were opened, Gen. Leslie at the Jiead of the
British Grenadiers, Seventh, Sixty-third and Sixty-fourth regiments, and
Hessian Grenadiers marched in, and took possession of Charleston, and
soon leveled the thirteen stripes with the dust, and displayed the British
standard on their ramparts. Still at Lempriere's.

Saturday, ijth. Remained at Lempriere's.

Sunday, 14th. Went to Charleston to view their strong works. Saw
the poor Rebel dogs very much chagrined at not being allowed to wear
their side arms.

Monday, ijth. Magazine blew up — set the town on fire — burnt
several houses. Capt. Collins and Lieut. Gordon, of the artillery, Lieut.
M'Leod of the Forty-second regiment, and about thirty privates, perished
by the explosion. In what way the accident happened is not certain ;
'tis supposed by throwing the captured arms into the magazine, one went
off, and set fire to the powder.

496 ALLAIRE 'S DIAR Y.

Tuesday, 16th. The American Volunteers relieved the Navy, and
took command of Fort Moultrie.

Wednesday, 17th. Spent the day in writing letters for New York.
Nothing new.

Thursday, 18th, to Sunday, 21st. Lay at Fort Moultrie. Nothing
extra.

Monday, 22d. Received orders for marching — went to Charleston.

Tuesday, 23d. About three o'clock in the afternoon returned in a
six-oared boat, and had the pleasing view of sixty or seventy large ships
coming into the harbor.

Wednesday , 24th. Lay at Fort Moultrie.

Thursday, 25th. The detachment was relieved by British and Hes-
sian Grenadiers. The American Volunteers marched up to Mount
Pleasant, and crossed over to Charleston. Marched through the town,
and took up their ground just in front of the lines. The horses and
baggage with myself crossed from Lempriere's Point to the Ship Yard,
which is about two miles from the town.

Friday, 26th. The following corps got in motion about three o'clock
in the morning, under the command of Col. Balfour, of the Twenty-
third regiment, viz — Light Infantry, commanded by Maj. Graham, three
companies of the Seventh by Capt. Peacock, American Volunteers by
Maj. Ferguson, and the Prince of Wales American Volunteers by Lieut.-
Col. Patterson — in number about six hundred. Marched out to the Ten
Mile House, and halted. Made bough houses to cover the men from
the heat of the sun. Heavy thunder shower.

Saturday, 27th. Marched at five o'clock in the morning ; passed
through a piece of low ground covered with magnolias in full bloom,
which emitted a most delicious odor. We took up our ground at a planta-
tion about two miles from the Twenty-Three Mile House.

Sunday, 28th. Got in motion at two o'clock in the morning. Marched
to Monk's Corner and halted. Dr. Johnson and myself went and dined
with Lady Colleton, Miss Russell and Miss Giles, the ladies we protected
in their distress when we were here the fourteenth of April.

Monday, 2gth. Lay encamped in a wood at Monk's Corner. Spent
an agreeable afternoon at Lady Colleton's, with Miss Russell and Miss
Giles.

Tuesday, 30th. Got in motion at five o'clock in the morning, and
marched to Gen. Moultrie's plantation, at a place called Prussia, where
we halted.

Wednesday, 31st. Got in motion at half past four in the morning ;
marched to Greenland swamp, and halted.

Thursday, June 1st. Got in motion at five o'clock in the morning,
and marched to Nelson's Ferry, Santee river. By express were informed
that Col. Tarleton, Monday, the 29th, fell in with a body of Rebels.

APPENDIX. 497

[Buford's corps] forty miles above Camden. He summoned them to
surrender— received an insolent answer, charged them, killed one Lieuten-
ant-Colonel, three Captains, eight Subalterns, one Adjutant, one Quarter-
Master, and ninety-nine Sergeants and rank and file. Wounded three
Captains, five Subalterns, and one hundred and forty-two rank and file.
Made prisoners two Captains, one Subaltern, fifty rank and file. Total
killed, wounded and taken prisoners, one Lieutenant-Colonel, eight
Captains, fourteen Subalterns, one Adjutant, one Quarter-Master, and
two hundred and ninety-one Sergeants, rank and file ; three stand of
colors taken, two brass six-pounders, two howitzers, two wagons with
ammunition, one artillery forge wagon, fifty-five barrels powder, twenty-
six wagons loaded with clothing, camp equipage, musket-cartridges,
cartridge-boxes, flints, etc., etc. Killed of the Legion, Lieut. McDonald
and Ensign Campbell, serving with the cavalry, two privates of the cav-
alry, and one of the Light Infantry. Total, two Subalterns, and three
rank and file. Wounded Lieut. Patterson, seven dragoons, making
eight rank and file of the cavalry, and three of the infantry. Total
wounded, one Subaltern, and eleven rank and file.

Friday, 2d. Lay encamped in a pleasant field near Nelson's Ferry.
Ordered to be in readiness to march at two o'clock in the morning.

Saturday, jd. Got in motion two o'clock in the morning. Marched
to Campbell's plantation, where we halted in the woods for the conven-
ience of shade. This place is seventy-seven miles from Charleston.

Sunday, 4th. Lay in the woods at Campbell's plantation. Some
prize wine shared to the different corps ; very convenient time to drink
his Majesty's health.

Monday, jth. Got in motion at two o'clock in the morning, and
marched to Cave Hall, St. Matthew's parish. Just below our camp was
a remarkably large cave, about an hundred feet deep. There is a room
formed by a rock sixty feet long, and forty wide, with famous grand
arches formed by nature. Through the middle runs a beautiful stream
of water, which heads in a fountain at the farther end of the cave. This
day twenty militia men came in, and brought the new-fangled Governor
of Georgia prisoner. He was sent to Charleston. He had taken pro-
tection from Lord Cornwallis as a private man.

Tuesday, 6th. Got in motion at three o'clock in the morning, and
marched thirteeen miles to Col. Thomson's, and halted on the march.
Started two bucks ; they ran in amongst the men. One of them got
caught. The militia were in from all quarters.

Wednesday, Jth. Lay encamped at Col. Thomson's plantation ; a
field in our rear covered with sensitive plant and passion flower.

Thursday, 8th. Still at Thomson's plantation. A thunder shower
every afternoon.

Friday, gth. Encamped still at Thomson's plantation ; wrote a
letter to Miss .

498 ALLAIRE'S DIAR V.

Saturday, ioth. Got in motion and left Thomson's at twelve o'clock
at night, and marched eighteen miles to Beaver creek, where we halted.
Maj. Graham, and two flank companies of the Prince of Wales
American Volunteers, remained at Thomson's. This day a company
of militia came in with their arms. A Henry Meholm, an old man
eighty-one years of age, this day met us ; he had left home with an
intention to go to Charleston, and had walked upwards of an hundred
miles when he met us. His errand was to get some kind of assistance.
He had been plundered by the Rebels, and stripped of everything.
What is remarkable, this old gentleman left at home a child between
two and three years old.

Sunday, nth. Got in motion at five o'clock in the morning, and
marched five miles and halted.

Monday, 12th. Got in motion at two o'clock in the morning, and
marched fourteen miles to Congaree Stores. This day passed a plan-
tation where were about four hundred acres of Indian corn growing —
the property of one man.

Tuesday, ijtk. Lay at Congaree Stores. Many good friends to
Government have suffered much by the Rebels.

Wednesday, 14th. Lay at Congaree Stores. Capt. Peacock and the
three companies of Royal Fusileers under his command, remain here ;
Col. Patterson and his battalion to go to Camden.

Thursday, ijth. Got in motion at twelve o'clock at night, and
marched twelve miles to Saluda P^erry ; crossed the river and halted.

Friday, 16th. Got in motion at half after four o'clock in the morning,
and marched seven miles to the blacksmith's, and halted.

Saturday, lyth. Lay still in the field at the blacksmith's, or High
Hill creek.

Sunday, 18 th. Got in motion at two o'clock in the morning, and
marched fourteen miles to a Capt. Wright's, of Col. Innes' regiment.

Monday, igth. Got in motion at four o'clock in the morning, and
marched to Cook's place, fourteen miles. This Cook is a Rebel Justice
and Captain — a great persecutor of friends to Government. He is
ordered down to John's Island, a place pointed out for the reception
of such infamous villains.

Tuesday, 20th. Got in motion and marched to Davenport's, fourteen
miles. He was formerly Captain of militia under Government. He has
the name of a Tory from his neighbors ; but many of his actions were
doubtful.

Wednesday, 21st. Lay encamped at Davenport's, Little river.

Thursday, 22d. Got in motion at twelve, and marched ten miles to
the fording place, Saluda river; crossed the men and baggage in a scow,
and forded the horses ; continued our march six miles to Ninety Six,
where we halted. It is a village or country town — contains about twelve

APPENDIX. 499

dwelling houses, a court-house and a jail, in which are confined about
forty Rebels, brought in prisoners by the friends to Government, who
have just now got the opportunity, and gladly embrace it, many of them
having been obliged before this to hide in swamps to keep from prison
themselves. Ninety Six is situated on an eminence, the land cleared for
a mile around it, in a flourishing part of the country, supplied with very
good water, enjoys a free, open air, and is esteemed a healthy place.
Here were condemned seventy-five friends to Government at one court ;
five were executed — the others got reprieved.

Friday, 23d. Lay in the field at Ninety Six. Some friends came in,
four were wounded. The militia had embodied at Tuckasegie, on the
South Fork of Catawba river — were attacked by a party of Rebels, under
command of Gen. Rutherford. The miltia were scant of ammunition,
which obliged them to retreat. They were obliged to swim the river at
a mill dam. The Rebels fired on them and killed thirty.* Col. Fergu-
son, with forty American Volunteers, pushed with all speed in pursuit
of the Rebels. It is seventy miles distance from Ninety Six. The
militia are flocking to him from all parts of the country.

Saturday, 24th. Took quarters in town, opposite the jail, where I
have the constant view of the Rebels peeping through the grates, which
affords some satisfaction to see them suffer for their folly. Some of
them are magistrates ; one the executioner of the five that were hanged
here some time in April, 1779.

Sunday, 25th, to Tuesday, 21th. Spent in cleaning, parade, and in
the town.

Thursday, 29th, and Friday, 30th. Still at Ninety Six. Nothing
extra.

Saturday, July 1st. Took a ride into the country for exercise.

Sunday, 2d, to Saturday, 8th. Still at Ninety Six.

Sunday, gth. The American Volunteers moved from Ninety Six at
seven o'clock in the evening, under the command of Captain DePeyster,
and marched seven miles to Island Ford, of Saluda river, on our way to
meet a party of Rebels that were making approaches towards our lines.
Dr. Johnson and I being late before we left our old quarters, without any
guide, got out of the road ; found our mistake at a mill, three miles from
the road we ought to have taken. It turned out to be no great loss, as
we have supplied ourselves with a grist of corn for our horses. We
came up to the detachment at one o'clock in the morning. Our baggage
had not arrived, which put us to the necessity of going to a house to
lodge. We found two women, and spent the night, though not to our
satisfaction. It afforded some merry scenes with those two modest
country women.

♦Col. Moore's defeat at Raaisour's Mill, June 20th.

500 ALLAIRE'S DIARY.

Monday, 10th. Got in motion at five o'clock in the morning;
crossed Saluda in a flat ; marched nine miles to a Rebel Col. Williams'
plantation, where we halted. Mrs. Williams and the children were at
home, and were treated with the utmost civility. Col. Williams is with
the Rebels, and is a very violent, persecuting scoundrel.

Tuesday, nth. Got in motion at five o'clock in the morning, and
marched eight miles to Indian creek, and halted during the heat of the
day at one Ryan's, who is a good friend, and suffered much for his
loyalty. Got in motion at six o'clock in the evening, and marched eleven
miles to Duncan's creek, where we halted at a Widow Brown's.

Wednesday, 12th. Got in motion at five o'clock in the evening, and
forded Duncan's creek and Enoree river. Continued marching to Capt.
Frost's, at Padget creek, eight miles from the Widow Brown's. This
evening met an express with the disagreeable news of a party of ours
consisting of seventeen of the Legion, eighteen York Volunteers, and
twenty-five militia being defeated at Col. Bratton's, at Fishing creek.*

Thursday, ijth. Lieut. Hunt of the Legion Cavalry came to our
quarters at Capt. Frost's. He was one of the party defeated the twelfth
inst. He gave an imperfect account of the affair. Capt. Huck com-
manded the party consisting of one subaltern and seventeen dragoons of
the Legion, three subalterns and eighteen New York Volunteers, twenty-
five militia men. They were sent in pursuit of a Rebel party, and arrived
at twelve o'clock, Tuesday night, the nth instant, at Col. Bratton's, at
Fishing creek, and were very much fatigued. They thought to rest them-
selves. Unfortunately a Rebel party commanded by a Col. Lacey came
upon them at four o'clock in the morning of the 12th, who were in amongst
them, and had possession of every pass before they where apprised of
it — except a road leading towards North Carolina, where Captain Huck,
with four dragoons, attempted to make off. Huck got shot through the
neck, of which he died. Mr. Hunt, with one dragoon, took a foot path
leading to a swamp. The militia he could give no account of. We left
Capt. Frost's about six o'clock in the evening ; forded Tyger river, con-
tinued our march twelve miles to Sugar creek. Here we found two
hundred militia encamped at Wofford's old field, Fair Forest, under
command of Majors Plummer and Gibbs. The Rebels, we hear, are
collecting in force at the Catawba Nation and Broad river.

Friday, 14th. Lay encamped at Fair Forest. Every hour news from
different parts of the country of Rebel parties doing mischief. Light
Infantry of Gen. Browne's corps joined us at twelve o'clock at night.

Saturday, ijth. Went in company with Capt. F. De Peyster, Dr.
Johnson, and Lieut. Fletcher, to dine with Col. Fletchall. After dinner
went to see his mill, which was a curiosity, having never seen such an one

*Capt. Hook or Huck defeated that morning.

APPENDIX. 501

before. The water falls fourteen feet perpendicularly down into a tub,
fixed with buckets ; from this tub runs up a shaft through the stone, and
turns, as the cog turns, a double-geared mill. Returning to camp were
informed that Capt. Dunlap had been obliged to retreat from Prince's
Fort. Capt. Dunlap made an attack upon the Rebels; drove them from
their ground, took one prisoner, who informed him that the Rebels were
four hundred strong. Upon this information Dunlap thought proper to
retreat, as his number was only fourteen American Volunteers and sixty
militia. We lost two killed, a sergeant and private wounded, and one
prisoner. The loss of the Rebels is uncertain — reports are, twenty or
thirty killed. Upon this news arriving, Capt. De Peyster ordered the
American Volunteers and militia to get in motion to support Dunlap.
Capt. Frederick De Peyster, with one hundred militia men, marched
twelve miles to McElwain's creek, where they met Dunlap.

Sunday, 16th. Dunlap with the men under his command marched
down to Stephen White's plantation, where the American Volunteers and
militia lay.

Monday, iyth. Lay at White's. The militia, brought in four prisoners,
one lad of fifteen years old, badly wounded in the arms.

Tuesday, 18th. Still at Mitchell's creek. This day Col. Ferguson
came to us from Nintey Six ; brought news that the Light Infantry were
on their march to join us.

Wednesday, igth. Still at White's plantation, on Mitchell's creek.

Thursday, 20th. Got in motion at five o'clock in the evening, and
marched six miles to Fair Forest Ford, where we halted and lay all
night.

Friday, 21st. Col. Balfour, with the Light Infantry from Ninety Six,
joined us — we still remained at the Ford.

Saturday, 22d. The Light Infantry, American Volunteers, and three
hundred militia, got in motion at seven o'clock in the evening ; made
a forced march of twenty-five miles to Lawson's Fork to surprise a
party of Rebels, who, we were informed, lay there. We arrived at
James Wood's plantation at six o'clock in the morning ; greatly disap-
pointed at finding no Rebels here. We were informed they were at
Green river — twenty-five miles farther.

Sunday, 23d. Got in motion at one o'clock in the morning, and
countermarched to our old ground, Fair Forest Ford.

Monday, 24th. Very much fatigued ; slept all day.
Tuesday, 25th. Col. Balfour with the Light Infantry got in motion
at two o'clock in the morning, and marched towards Ninety Six.
Wednesday, 26th. Lay at our old ground, Fair Forest.
Thursday, 27th. Got in motion at nine o'clock in the morning ;
forded Fair Forest river ; marched about three miles and took up our
ground in the wood.

502 ALLAIRE'S DIARY.

Friday, 28th. Got in motion at seven o'clock in the morning, and
marched eight miles to Col. Henderson's plantation, Pacolet river.
Henderson is prisoner at Charlestown ; he has a pretty plantation, with
near two hundred acres of Indian corn growing.

Saturday, 2gth. Got in motion at eight o'clock in the morning, and
marched five miles to Thicketty river and halted ; one of the soldiers
killed a Continental rattle-snake, with thirteen rattles on.

Sunday, 30th. Got in motion at three o'clock in the morning;
countermarched twelve miles to Armstrong's creek, Fair Forest. This
day came into camp express from Anderson's fort, a Capt. Cook, aged
sixty years, who has buried four wives, and now has his fifth on her
last legs.

Monday, 31st. Got in motion at six o'clock in the morning, and
marched ten miles to Mitchell's creek, Fair Forest ; a very wet, disagree-
able day ; got thoroughly soaked.

Tuesday, August 1st. Lay at Mitchell's creek. Had intelligence
that the Rebels had attacked Col. Turnbull at Rocky Mount, on Sunday
the 30th ; but could not learn the particulars.

Wednesday, 2d. Got in motion at four o'clock in the morning;
marched four miles to Tyger river ; forded that stream and continued
our march to Capt. Bobo's, and halted. Had intelligence that Col.
Turnbull beat off the Rebels ; Capt. Hulett got wounded in the head.
The Rebels were commanded by Gen. Sumter. He sent in a flag,
demanding the post — Rocky Mount. Col. Turnbull sent word that he
might come and take it. Sumter endeavored to do so, but was obliged
soon to retreat with considerable loss. Col. Turnbull took two prisoners,
who had previously been in his camp, drew ammunition, and then joined
the Rebels, and were heard to say when firing, " take back your ammu-
nition again." They were both hanged as a reward for their treachery.

Thursday, 3d. Lay at Bobo's ; nothing extra.

Friday, 4th. Still at Bobo's. At six o'clock in the evening moved
three-quarters of a mile for advantage of ground.

Saturday, jth. Lay in the woods near Bobo's. Had intelligence
that Fort Anderson, in which we had a Sergeant of the American Volun-
teers, and eighty militia men, was summoned on Sunday the 30th July,
and given up in a dastardly manner, without exchanging a single
shot*

Sunday, 6th. Got in motion at seven o'clock in the evening. Left
the heights near Bobo's, upon hearing that the Rebels were collecting in
force at Ford's Mills. We made a forced march of sixteen miles in order
to surprise them ; marched all night ; got to our ground at Jemmie's
creek at six o'clock in the morning of the 7th, where we heard the
Rebels had moved seven miles to Phillip's Ford.

♦Col. Patrick Moore, commanding, taken by Col. Shelby and others.

APPENDIX. 503

Monday, yth. Got in motion at seven in the evening, and made
another forced march for them ; and fording Jemmie's creek and the
South and North branches of Tyger river. Got to the ground the
Rebels were encamped on, at four o'clock on Tuesday morning, August
eighth. They had intelligence of our move, and were likewise alarmed
by the firing of a gun in our ranks ; they sneaked from their ground
about half an hour before we arrived.

Tuesday, 8th. Learning that the Rebel wagons were three miles
in front of us at Cedar Springs, Captain Dunlap, with fourteen mounted
men, and a hundred and thirty militia, were dispatched to take the
wagons. He met three Rebels coming to reconnoitre our camp ; he pur-
sued, took two of them — the other escaped, giving the Rebels the alarm.
In pursuit of this man, Dunlap and his party rushed into the centre
of the Rebel camp, where they lay in ambush, before he was aware
of their presence. A skirmish ensued, in which Dunlap got slightly
wounded, and had between twenty and thirty killed and wounded —
Ensign McFarlar.d and one private taken prisoners. The Rebel loss is
uncertain. A Maj. Smith, Capt. Potts, and two privates, were left dead
on the field. Col. Clarke, Johnson [Robertson,] and twenty privates
were seen wounded. We pursued them five miles to the Iron Works,
but were not able to overtake them, they being all mounted. We
countermarched five miles to Cedar Springs, and halted to refresh
during the heat of the day. At six in the evening, marched and took a
height near the ground the Rebels left.

Wednesday, gth. Lay on the heights ; nothing extra.

Thursday, ioth. Sent the wounded to Musgrove's Mills, Enoree
river, to be attended by Dr. Ross. We marched about seven miles to
Culbertson's plantation, on Fair Forest. Express arrived from Col.
Turnbull at Rocky Mount, with orders to join him. By the express
heard that Sumter had attacked Hanging Rock the 6th instant. The
North Carolinians were first attacked ; they gave way. Brown's corps
came up, but were obliged to give way. The Legion Cavalry came in
the Rebels' rear, and soon gained the day. Brown's corps suffered
much — three officers killed, and three wounded — an hundred men taken
prisoners.

Friday nth. Got in motion at six o'clock in the morning. Marched
ten miles to Maj. Gibbs' plantation ; lay all night.

Saturday, 12th. Got in motion at seven o'clock in the morning, and
marched seven miles to a Rebel Capt. Stripling's plantation. He has
taken protection, and as yet has not broken his promise. A Maj. Ruther-
ford* came with a flag; in consequence of his coming in our rear,
without giving signal by drum or trumpet, was detained all night, and
threatened with imprisonment.

*Maj. Rutherford, a son of Gen. Rutherford, distinguished himself at Ramsour's Mill,
and was subsequently killed at Eutaw Springs.

504 ALLAIRE S DIARY.

Sunday, ijth. Got in motion at five o'clock in the morning, and
marched nine miles to Tinker creek. At seven in the evening got in
motion and marched five miles to Smith's Mills, on Swift's creek. Here
we lay all night.

Monday, 14th. Got in motioa at four o'clock in the morning ;
Marched to the Quaker fording place ; forded Tyger river, continued
our march to a Rebel Col. James Lisle's plantation. Lisle is in the
Rebel service — his family at home.

Tuesday, 15th. Got in motion at seven o'clock in the morning.
Marched two miles to Lisle's Ford ; forded Broad river — proceeded
seven miles to a Mr. Coleman's in Mobley's settlement ; halted during
the heat of the day. Got in motion at seven o'clock in the evening ;
marched two miles to the camp of the New York Volunteers, where we
got intelligence that Gen. Gates lay within three miles of Camden, with
an army of seven thousand men. Col. Turnbull had orders the twelfth
to retreat from Rocky Mount, and act as he saw proper — to get to Cam-
den if he could. S"umter appeared with cannon at Rocky Mount, about
twelve hours after Col. Turnbull left it, in order to make a second trial
for the post. He found not so harsh a reception as his first attempt.

Wednesday , 16th. Got in motion at seven o'clock in the morning,
and marched two miles to Mobley's meeting house for convenience of
ground.

Thursday, lyth. Got in motion at nine o'clock in the morning, and
marched six miles to a Rebel Col. Winn's plantation. Winn is at James
Island, a prisoner.

Friday, 18th. Lay at Winn's plantation, waiting news from Camden,
having spies out upon every quarter.

Saturday, igth. Lay at Winn's plantation. An express arrived from
Camden with the agreeable news of Lord Cornwallis' attacking and
totally defeating Gates' army on the morning of the 16th ; twelve hundred
were killed and wounded, left on the field ; and one thousand prisoners,
eight brass field pieces taken, being all the Rebels had in the field,
several stand of colors, all their ammunition wagons, a hundred and
fifty wagons of baggage, provisions, and stores of different kinds. All
this with the trifling loss on our side of not more than ten officers killed
and wounded, and two or three hundred non-commissioned officers and
privates. We received orders to pursue Sumter, he having the only
remains of what the Rebels can call a corps in these parts at present.
At six o'clock in the evening our wagons were ordered forward that we
might pursue Sumter with vigor. At seven we got in motion. That
very moment an express arrived from Col. Innes', who was on his way
from Ninety Six to join us, informing us that he had been attacked by
a body of Rebels at Musgrove's Mills on Enoree river; that himself, and
Major Fraser of his regiment, were wounded, as were Capt. Peter Camp-

APPENDIX. 505

bell, Lieuts. Chew,and Camp, of Col. Allen's regiment. He wished for
support as many of the militia had left him. This, to our great mortifi-
cation, altered the course of our march. At eleven at night, we got
in motion ; marched all night ; forded Broad river at sun-rising.

Sunday, 20th. Proceeded four miles, and took up our ground at
Peter's creek, where we lay all day, fatigued with our night's march, being
eighteen miles. While we lay at Col. Winji's, a Mr. Smith was executed
for joining the Rebels after he had taken protection, and been allowed
to embody himself with our militia.

Monday, 21st. Got in motion at one o'clock in the morning, and
marched six miles to a Rebel Capt. Lipham's on Padget creek. Took
up our ground at five o'clock in the morning. This morning was so
cold that we were glad to hover round large fires as soon as we halted.
About one o'clock a Mr. Duncan came to our camp with the agreeable
news that Col. Tarleton, with three companies of the Light Infantry, and
the Legion Cavalry, fell in with Sumter about twelve o'clock on Saturday,
the nineteenth.* He found them all asleep after the fatigue of two
nights' rapid retreat. Their horses were all at pasture. The first alarm
was the Light Infantry firing upon them. Col. Tarleton, with his usual
success, gained a complete victory over Gen. Sumter ; took two brass
field pieces, made two hundred and fifty prisoners, eight hundred horses,
thirty wagons, and retook a hundred of Brown's men that were
captured at Hanging Rock. Captain Duncan made his escape from the
Rebels during the engagement, he being a prisoner Got in motion at
eleven o'clock in the evening ; marched ten miles to Tyger river ; forded
it at break of day.

Tuesday morning, 22d. Continued our march four miles to
Harrison's plantation, on Fair Forest, where we halted.

Wednesday, 23d. Got in motion at six o'clock in the morning, and
marched six miles to John Blasingame's plantation, on Sugar creek,
where we took up our ground. Col. Ferguson set out for Camden.

Thursday, 24th. Still lay at Blasingame's, on Sugar creek.

Friday, 25th. Still at Blasingame's.

Saturday, 26th. Got in motion at six o'clock in the morning;
marched six miles to John Wofford's plantation, on McClure's creek.

Sunday, 27th. Lay at McClure's creek ; nothing extra.

Monday, 28th. Got in motion at five o'clock, and marched six miles
to Culbertson's plantation, near Fair Forest river.

Tuesday, 29th, to Thursday, 31st. Lay at Culbertson's; nothing
extra.

Friday, September 1 st. Still remained at Culbertson's. Maj. Fer-
guson joined us again from Camden with the disagreeable news that we

*It was really the preceding day, Friday, 18th.

506 ALLAIRE'S DIAR Y.

were to be separated from the army, and act on the frontiers with the
militia.

Saturday, 2d. Got in motion at eleven o'clock in the morning;
forded Fair Forest river, and marched ten miles to the Iron Works, on
Lawson's Fork of Pacolet river. Here was a Rebel militia-man that got
wounded in the right arm at the skirmish at Cedar Springs, the eighth
of August. The bone was very much shattered. It was taken off by
one Frost, a blacksmith, with a shoemaker's knife and carpenter's saw.
He stopped the blood with the fungus of the oak, without taking up a
blood vessel.

Sunday, jd. My friend Johnson and I bathed in the stream at the
Iron Works.

Monday, 4th. Got in motion at six o'clock in the morning, and
marched ten miles to Case's creek, where we halted all night.

Tuesday, 5th. Got in motion at five o'clock in the evening, and
marched a mile and a half to Pacolet river, and halted. The fresh was
so high we could not ford the river. I took lodging, with my friend
Johnson, who was very unwell, at one Coleman's, who is a very warm
Tory. His wife and all her children have been stripped of all their
clothes, bedding, and other furniture. She was mother of five children
in two years.

Wednesday, 6th. Got in motion at eight o'clock in the morning ;
marched six miles to Buck's creek ; dined at one Nelson's. Here was
a hearty old man, named William Case, a hundred and nine years old.
He is a native of New England. Talks very strong ; gives some faint
description of New England. His memory began to fail seven years
past ; he lost his eyesight about eighteen months past ; is otherwise very
hale ; walks amazingly spry, and danced a jig.

Thursday, jth. Got in motion at seven o'clock in the morning;
crossed Buck creek, and the division line of South and North Carolina ;
marched six miles farther, and halted. Maj. Ferguson, with about fifty
of the American Volunteers, and three hundred militia, got in motion at
six o'clock in the evening, and marched to Gilbert Town in order to sur-
prise a party of Rebels that we hear d were there. Capt. DePeyster and
I remained on the ground we took in the morning, with the remainder
of the American Volunteers and militia.

Friday, 8th, Got in motion at eight in the morning, and marched
six miles to Broad river, and took a height where we halted, and waited
orders from Maj. Ferguson.

Saturday, gth. Remained on the ground ; received intelligence
from Maj. Ferguson to keep our post. He was returning to keep a good
lookout, as the Georgians were coming towards us.

Sunday, 10th. Col. Ferguson joined us about eleven o'clock at night.

Monday, nth. Got in motion at four o'clock in the evening; forded

APPENDIX. 507

Broad river and continued on our march ten miles to one Adair's plan-
tation, and halted.

Tuesday, 12th. Maj. Ferguson, with forty American Volunteers and
one hundred militia, got in motion at two o'clock in the morning, and
marched fourteen miles through the mountains to the head of Cane creek,
in Burke County, in order to surprise a party of Rebels we heard lay
there. Unfortunately for us, they had by some means got intelligence
of our coming, in consequence of which, Mr. McDowell, with three
hundred infamous villains like himself, thought it highly necessary to
remove their quarters. However, we were lucky enough to take a
different route from what they expected, and met them on their way, and
to appearance one would have thought they meant sincerely to fight us,
as they drew up on an eminence for action. On our approach they fired
and gave way. We totally routed them, killed one private, wounded a
Capt. White, took seventeen prisoners, twelve horses, all their ammu-
nition, which was only twenty pounds of powder, after which we
marched to their encampment, and found it abandoned by those Con-
gress heroes. Our loss was two wounded and one killed. Among the
wounded was Capt. Dunlap, who received two slight wounds. After the
skirmish we returned to one Allen's to refresh ourselves. We got in
motion about four o'clock in the afternoon, and countermarched about
six miles to a Rebel Mr. Jones', where we halted all night.

Wednesday, ijth. Got in motion about eight o'clock in the morn-
ing and continued countermarching to a Rebel Col. Walker's plantation
where we met Capt. Ryerson and Lieut. Fletcher with the remainder
of the American Volunteers and militia. Here we took up our ground,
very much fatigued with our enterprise.

Thursday, 14th. Lay still at Col. Walker's. The poor, deluded
people of this Province begin to be sensible of their error, and come
in very fast. Maj. Ferguson, with thirty American Volunteers, and three
hundred militia, got in motion at six o'clock, and marched to the head
of Cane creek, and halted at one Wilson's.

Friday, 15th. Capt. DePeyster and I, who remained at Col.
Walker's with the remainder of the American Volunteers and militia,
got in motion at six o'clock in the morning, and marched twelve miles
to one Bowman's, near the head of Cane creek, and halted. This
creek is so amazingly crooked that we were obliged to cross it nineteen
times in marching four miles. Mrs. Bowman is an exceedingly obliging
woman. She had a child about four years old, who had smoked
tobacco almost three years. At four o'clock in the afternoon got in
motion, and marched a mile and a half to Wilson's, where we joined
Maj. Ferguson. At ten o'clock in the evening we got in motion, with
the American Volunteers and five hundred militia, leaving Capt. Ryer-
son and Lieut. Fletcher, with two hundred militia, to guard the baggage,

508 ALLAIRE'S DIARY.

and marched fifteen miles to one John Forsyth's, on the banks of the
Catawba, to surprise Col. McDowell. We arrived there about six
o'clock in the morning of the 16th. Col. McDowell had left this place
the 14th. We countermarched to one Devore's, and halted to refresh
ourselves. At three o'clock got in motion ; marched to Pleasant Gar-
den Ford, Catawba river ; forded it, and continued our march to one
George Cathy's plantation, about a mile and a half from Devore's.
Pleasant Garden is a very handsome place. I was surprised to see so
beautiful a tract of land in the mountains. This settlement is composed
of the most violent Rebels I ever saw, particularly the young ladies.

Sunday, 17th. Got in motion and marched two miles to Buck's
creek, forded it, and continued our march two miles farther to a Rebel
Maj. Davidson's plantation, and halted.

Monday, 18th. Got in motion, countermarched to Buck creek,
forded it, and proceeded on five miles to Richey's Ford, on Catawba
river, forded it, and marched to a Rebel Alexander Thompson's planta-
tion, six miles farther, and halted.

Tuesday, igth. Got in motion at five o'clock in the morning, and
marched about eleven miles to a Rebel Mr. Hemphill's plantation, and
halted. At seven o'clock in the evening, I went about a mile and
joined Capt. Ryerson and the militia under his command.

Wednesday, 20th. Got in motion at six o'clock in the morning, and
marched a mile and a half to one White's plantation, where we joined
Maj. Ferguson again. This day three officers belonging to Cruger and
Allen's regiments, joined us from Ninety Six, with fifty militia men.

Thursday, 21st. Got in motion at five o'clock in the morning and
marched fourteen miles to a Rebel Samuel Andrew's plantation, and
halted. On the march I saw eight wild turkeys.

Friday, 2 2d. Got in motion at five o'clock in the morning ; marched
five miles to Col. Walker's plantation, and halted.

Saturday, 23d. Got in motion at nine o'clock in the morning ;
marched three miles to Gilbert Town ; took up our ground on a height
about half a mile from the town. This town contains one dwelling
house, one barn, a blacksmith's shop, and some out-houses.

Sunday, 24th. Five hundred subjects came in, also a number of
ladies. Received intelligence from Col. Cruger, that he had marched
from Ninety Six to Augusta, to the assistance of Col. Browne, who was
besieged by six hundred Rebels, under the command of Col. Clarke.
Fortunately for Col. Browne, the Cherokee Indians, for whom he is
agent, were coming to Augusta for their yearly presents. They met
the Rebels just as they were going into the town, which obliged them
to fight. The Rebels being too numerous, and the Indians unacquainted
with field fighting, were obliged to make the best of their way to a fort
on one flank of the town, where Col. Browne had retired to. He made

APPENDIX. 509

a very gallant defence for five days, two of which he was without bread
or water. On Col. Cruger's approach, the Rebels moved off with their
plunder, of which they had a tolerable share. Col. Cruger arrived time
enough to retake the cannon which they had taken from Browne, and
about thirty prisoners.

Monday, 23 th, and Tuesday, 26th. Lay at Gilbert Town ; nothing
extra.

Wednesday, 2jth. Got in motion at five o'clock in the morning,
and marched three miles to Rucker's Mill, and halted.

Thursday ; 28th. Got in motion at five o'clock in the morning ;
marched seven miles to Mountain creek, forded it, although very difficult,
continued on about a mile farther to Twitty's Ford of Broad river, and
took up our ground on its banks. At six o'clock in the evening got in
motion, forded the river ; marched two miles to McDaniel's Ford of
Green river; forded it, and marched two miles farther; halted on the
road ; lay on our arms till four o'clock the next morning.

Friday, 29th. We then, at that early hour, moved on three miles to
one James Step's plantation, and halted. This man has been very
unfortunate in his family ; his wife, who is a very decent woman, was
caught by the Indians about a twelvemonth past. They scalped
and tomahawked her several times in the head, treated the infant she
had in her arms in a most inhuman and savage manner. They mashed
its head in such a manner that its recovery is truly astonishing ; but
what this poor, unhappy woman seems most to regret is the loss of her
oldest son, whom the savages took, and she now remains in a state of
uncertainty, not having heard from him since.

Saturday, joth. Lay at James Step's with an expectation of inter-
cepting Col. Clarke on his return to the mountains; but he was prudent
enough to take another route.

Sunday, October 1st. Got in motion at five o'clock in the morning,
and marched twelve miles to Denard's Ford of Broad river, and took
up our old ground where we lay the 8th September.

Monday, 2d. Got in motion at four o'clock in the afternoon ; forded
Broad river ; marched four miles ; formed in line of action and lay on
our arms. This night I had nothing but the canopy of heaven to
cover me.

Tuesday, jd. Got in motion at four o'clock in the morning; marched
six miles to Camp's Ford of Second Broad river, forded it and con-
tinued on six miles to one Armstrong's plantation, on the banks of
Sandy Run. Halted to refresh ; at four o'clock got in motion ; forded
Sandy Run ; marched seven miles to Buffalo creek ; forded it ; marched
a mile farther and halted near one Tate's plantation. John West came
in camp, who is a hundred and one years of age ; is amazingly strong
in every sense.

510 ALLAIRE'S DIARY.

Friday, 6th. Got in motion at four o'clock in the morning, and
marched sixteen miles to Little King's Mountain, where we took up
our ground.

Saturday, yth. About two o'clock in the afternoon twenty-five hun-
dred Rebels, under the command of Brig.-Gen. Williams, and ten
Colonels, attacked us. Maj. Ferguson had eight hundred men. The
action continued an hour and five minutes ; but their numbers enabled
them to surround us. The North Carolina regiment seeing this, and
numbers being out of ammunition, gave way, which naturally threw the
rest of the militia into confusion. Our poor little detachment, which
consisted of only seventy men when we marched to the field of action,
were all killed and wounded but twenty ; and those brave fellows were
soon crowded as close as possible by the militia. Capt. DePeyster, on
whom the command devolved, saw it impossible to form six men together ;
thought it necessary to surrender to save the lives of the brave men who
were left. We lost in this action, Maj. Ferguson, of the Seventy-first
regiment, a man much attached to his King and country, well informed
in the art of war ; he was brave and humane, and an agreeable com-
panion ; in short, he was universally esteemed in the army, and I have
every reason to regret his unhappy fate. We had eighteen men killed
on the spot ; Capt. Ryerson and thirty-two privates wounded of Maj.
Ferguson's detachment ; Lieut. McGinnis, of Allen's regiment of
Skinner's Brigade, killed. Taken prisoners, Two Captains, four Lieu-
tenants, three Ensigns, and one Surgeon, and fifty -four sergeants rank
and file, including the mounted men under the command of Lieut. Taylor.
Of the militia, one hundred were killed, including officers; wounded,
ninety ; taken prisoners, about six hundred. Our baggage all taken, of
course. Rebels lost Brig.-Gen. Williams, one hundred and thirty-five,
including officers, killed ; wounded, equal to ours.

Sunday, 8th. They thought it necessary to move us sixteen miles,
to one Waldron's plantation, where they halted.

Monday, gth. Moved two miles and a half to Bullock creek ; *
forded it, and halted on the banks.

Tuesday, loth* Moved twenty miles and halted in the woods.

Wednesday, nth. Moved at eight o'clock in the morning ; marched
twelve miles to Col. Walker's, and halted.

Thursday, 12th. Those villains dividecLour baggage, although they
had promised on their word we should have it all.

Friday, 13th. Moved six miles to Bickerstaffs plantation. In the
evening their liberality extended so far as to send five old shirts to nine
of us, as a change of linen — other things in like proportion.

Saturday, 14th. Twelve field officers were chosen to try the militia

Apparently Boren's creek— Bullock's creek was some fifteen or eighteen miles distant.

APPENDIX. 511

prisoners — particularly those who had the most influence in the country.
They condemed thirty — in the evening they began to execute Lieut.-Col.
Mills, Capt. Wilson, Capt. Chitwood, and six others, who unfortunately
fell a sacrifice to their infamous mock jury. Mills, Wilson, and Chit-
wood died like Romans — the others were reprieved.

Sunday, 15th. Moved at five o'clock in the morning. Marched
all day through the rain — a verv disagreeable road. We got to Catawba,
and forded it at Island Ford, about ten o'clock at night. Our march
was thirty-two miles. All the men were worn out with fatigue and fast-
ing— the prisoners having no bread or meat for two days before. We
officers were allowed to go to Col. McDowell's, where we lodged com-
fortably. About one hundred prisoners made their escape on this
march.

Monday, 16th. Moved at two o'clock in the afternoon. Marched
five miles ; forded the north branch of Catawba and John's river ;
halted at a Tory plantation.

Tuesday, lyth. Moved at eight o'clock in the morning. Marched
fifteen miles; halted at Capt. Hatt's plantation. Thiee prisoners
attempted to make their escape this night ; two succeeded — the other
was shot through the body.

Wednesday, i8tk. About five o'clock in the morning the Rebels
executed the man who unfortunately got wounded in attempting to make
his escape. We moved at eight o'clock in the morning, and marched
eighteen miles to Moravian creek, and halted.

Thursday, igth. Moved at eight o'clock in the morning; forded
Moravian creek, passed by Wilkes Court House, and marched sixteen
miles to one Hagwoods' plantation, and halted.

Friday, 20th. Moved at eleven o'clock in the morning ; marched
six miles to Mr. Sale's plantation, and halted.

Saturday, 21st. Several Tory women brought us butter, milk,
honey, and many other necessaries of life. Moved at ten o'clock in
the morning, and marched fourteen miles to Mr. Headpeth's plantation,
a great Tory, who is at present with Lord Cornwallis. We lodged at
Mr. Edward Clinton's, who is likewise with Lord Cornwallis.

Sunday, 22d. Moved at ten o'clock in the morning. Obtained
liberty to go forward with Col. Shelby to Salem, a town inhabited by
Moravians. Rode ten miles, and forded Yadkin river at Shallow Ford.
Proceeded on fourteen miles farther to Salem. Went to meeting in the
evening ; highly entertained with the decency of those people, and with
their music. Salem contains about twenty houses, and a place of wor-
ship. The people of this town are all mechanics ; those of the other
two Moravian settlements are all farmers, and all stanch friends to Gov-
ernment.
' Monday, 23d. Lay at Salem in the evening. Two Continental

512 ALLAIRE *S DIAR Y.

officers slept at the tavern, on their way to join their army, One Mr.
Simons, a Lieutenant of Col. Washington's dragoons, was exceeding
polite, pitied our misfortune in falling into the hands of their militia.

Tuesday, 24th. Moved at ten o'clock in the morning ; marched six
miles to the old town called Bethabara. Here we joined the camp
again. This town is about as large as the other ; but not so regularly
laid out. The inhabitants very kind to all the prisoners. This night
Dr. Johnson and I were disturbed by a Capt. Campbell, who came into
our room, and ordered us up in a most peremptory manner. He wanted
our bed. I was obliged to go to Col. Campbell, and wake him to get
the ruffian turned out of the room ; otherwise he would have murdered
us, having his sword drawn, and strutting about with it in a truly
cowardly manner.'

Wednesday, 25th. The men of our detachment, on Capt. DePey-
ster passing his word for their good behavior, were permitted to go into
houses in the town without a guard.

Thursday, 26th, to Saturday, 28th. Nothing extra.

Sunday, 2gth. Col. Cleveland waited on Capt. DePeyster and the
rest of the officers, and asked us if we, with our men, would come and
hear a sermon at ten o'clock. He marched the militia prisoners from
their encampment to the town, and halted them ; and sent an officer to
our quarters to acquaint us they were waiting for us. We then ordered
our men to fall in ; marched to the front of the prisoners ; the whole
then proceeded on to a height about half a mile from the town. Here
we heard a Presbyterian sermon, truly adapted to their principles and
the times ; or, rather, stuffed as full of Republicanism as their camp is
of horse thieves.

Monday, joth. A number of the inhabitants assembled at Betha-
bara to see a poor Tory prisoner executed for a crime of the following
nature, viz : A Rebel soldier was passing the guard where the prisoners
were confined, and like a brute addressed himself to those poor unhappy
people in this style: "Ah, d — n you, you'll all be hanged." This
man, with the spirit of a British subject, answered, "Never mind that,
it will be your turn next." But Col. Cleveland's goodness extended so
far as to reprieve him.

Tuesday, joth. Rode to Salem in company with Capt. DePeyster,
Dr. Johnson and Mr. Supple. This night very cold ; froze ice a quarter
of an inch thick — the first this fall.

Wednesday, November is t. My friend, Dr. Johnson, insulted and
beaten by Col. Cleveland for attempting to dress a man whom they had
cut on the march. Col. Armstrong relieved Cleveland in the afternoon,
and took the command.

Thursday, 2d. Took a walk with Capt. DePeyster, Dr. Johnson
and Mr. Taylor to Bathania, three miles from Bethabara. This town
contains about thirty houses ; it is regularly laid out.

APPENDIX. 513

Friday, jd. Heard by a countryman, who was moving his family
over the mountains to Nolachucky, that General Leslie had landed at
James river, in Virginia.

Saturday, 4th. Dined at a country house.

Sunday, jth. Set off from Bethabara in company with Lieut. Tay-
lor, Lieut. Stevenson, and William Gist, a militia-man, about six o'clock
in the evening. We marched fifteen miles to Yadkin river ; forded it,
found it very disagreeable. We continued on twenty miles farther to
Mr. Miller's plantation, an exceeding good subject. Here we arrived
just at daybreak the next morning.

Monday, 6th. Took up our ground in the bushes, about half a mile
from the house. At ten o'clock, we sent Mr. Gist to the house for some
victuals. He found Mr. Miller at home, who very readily gave us all
the assistance that lay in his power. About two o'clock, he brought
us some victuals, which we were very happy to see, being very
hungry after our fatiguing march the night before. In conversation,
which very naturally run upon the safest way, guides, etc., Mr. Miller
told us he knew a militia Capt. Turner, and one or two more subjects,
then lying in the bushes, who would be very happy to join Lord Corn-
wallis ; and they were also excellent guides. On this we consulted, and
thought it prudent to stay all night. Mr. Miller then fetched us a
blanket, and immediately set out to find those people.

Tuesday, yth. Mr. Miller returned informing us that one of those
men would be with us at six o'clock in the evening. We waited till
seven, but the man not coming, we thought it prudent to go without
him. We set out about half after seven ; marched six miles to one
Carpenter's. When we arrived there, Mr. Carpenter advised us to
remain there the remainder of the night, and he would go to Mr. Miller,
and send him again for the men. We then consulted, and thought it
best to stay a day or two — then to proceed on, without a guide.

Wednesday, 8th. Lay very snug in the bushes. About four o'clock
in the afternoon, Mr. Carpenter returned and told us Mr. Miller was
gone in search of a guide, and was to return with an answer as soon as
possible. Suffered exceedingly with the cold this day.

Thursday, gth. Heard of the Rebels following us, but they getting
false intelligence, returned again, which was much in our favor. In the
course of the day, we thought it would be prudent to get the best direc-
tions we could, and proceed on, without a guide, rather than remain too
long in one place, lest some of those people might be treacherous. We got
direction from Mr. Carpenter for sixty miles, and at six o'clock in the eve-
ning, set out ; marched thirty miles, and halted in the woods at daybreak.

Friday, 10th. Suffered very much with the cold. At six o'clock in

the evening set out again. This night saw the moon in an eclipse, and

heard several wolves bark. Passed a Rebel party consisting of twelve

or fourteen, who lay about twenty yards from the road by a fire ; but
33

514 ALLAIRE'S DIAR Y.

very fortunately for us, they were all asleep. We marched thirty miles
and arrived at Colbert Blair's, just at daybreak.

Saturday, nth. It began to rain just after we got to Mr. Blair's.
Lucky we were indeed. This good man secreted us in his fodder-house,
and gave us the best his house afforded.

Sunday, 12th. Remained at Mr. Blair's ; a rainy, disagreeable day.

Monday, Jjtk. Set out from this good man's fodder-house. He
conducted us about three miles to a Mr. F. Rider's, who guided us seven
miles farther, over the Brushy Mountains, to Catawba river. Mr. John
Murray, who lived on the bank of the river, put us over in a canoe, and
conducted us three miles to Mr. Ballou's. This old man was about sixty
years of age ; but his love for his King and his subjects induced him to
get up, although very late at night, and guided us seven miles to a Mr.
Hilterbrine's. On the way the old man informed us he had two sons
who lay out in the woods, who were anxious to go to our army, and were
also good guides. He also told us of one Williams, that was a good
guide, and who would be glad to go with us. We told the old man we
should be very happy to have them, as the road began to grow more
dangerous, and we quite unacquainted with the way. This poor old
man expressed a great deal of anxiety for our safety, and at last told
us he would go the next day and endeavor to find them, and send them
to us. We arrived at Hilterbrine's about six o'clock in the morning of
the 14th. He received us with great caution, lest we should be treach-
erous ; but when he found we were British officers he was very kind.

Wednesday, ijth. Just as we were drinking a dish of coffee, on a
rock, after dusk, those three young men came to us on horseback, which
made us very happy. We set out immediately, and marched twenty
miles over the Brushy Mountains, where there was nothing but Indian
paths. Crossed several small rivers. We arrived at one Sheppard's
plantation, just at daybreak of the 16th. This poor family were so
completely stripped of everything they had, by the Rebels, that they
could give us nothing but a hoe cake, and some dried beef, which was
but a very indifferent repast for hungry stomachs. At six o'clock in the
evening set out; marched sixteen miles to Camp's Ford of Second
Broad river ; forded it, and continued on three and a half miles farther
to Island Ford of Main Broad river ; forded it, and marched one mile to
Capt. Townsend's plantation. This man received three balls in the
action on King's Mountain, and was at home on parole. He was very
happy to see us, and gave us the best his house afforded.

Friday, 17th. Set out at six o'clock in the evening ; marched twelve
miles to a Mr. Morris'. Here we were told that a party of Rebels were
directly in our front ; that we had better remain there that night, in
which time we could send Mr. Williams, who was with us, and well
acquainted with that neighborhood, to get a militia Capt. Robins, who

APPENDIX. 515

lay out in the woods, and was going to our army in a day or two. This
man was so good a guide that it induced us to stay.

Saturday , 18th. Lay in the woods ; fared pretty well.

Sunday, igth. Mr. Williams returned, but without effecting what he
went after. We had a council of safety ; found it necessary to proceed
on. We got Mr. Murray to guide us to the main road that leads to the
Iron Works, which is twelve miles distant. We set out about three
o'clock in the afternoon ; took by-paths, and got in the main road just
at dusk. We crossed Pacolet river, Lawson's Fork, and Tyger river ;
passed a Rebel guard; marched thirty-seven miles, and arrived at
James Duncan's plantation, half an hour before daybreak of the 20th.
About ten o'clock Mrs. Duncan rode out to see if she could get any
intelligence of our army, and of the Rebel army, that we might shun
the latter. Mrs. Duncan returned in less than an hour, with the
disagreeable news that the Rebel army was marching within two
miles of us, and were going to encamp at Blackstock's, about four miles
from us. This news truly discouraged me. About five o'clock in the
evening Mr. Duncan came to us with agreeable news — that Col. Tarle-
ton was in pursuit of the Rebels. At six o'clock a Mr. Jackson came to
us, and informed us he had seen Col. Tarleton ; he had also heard he
had hadan action with Sumter, who commanded the Rebels, but did not
know the particulars. He advised us to go to his house and stay all
night, as we would be perfectly safe there, and the next morning go to
Mr. Smith's, where we could hear the particulars of the action, as there
were some of the Legion wounded there. We agreed to what the man
said ; staid all night at his house, where we were treated very kindly.

Tuesday, 21st. Mr. Duncan conducted us to Mr. Smith's, where we
found six of the Legion wounded.

Wednesday, 22d. Set out from Archey Smith's on horseback, which
the subjects in that neighborhood supplied us with. They brought us
on thirteen miles to one Adair's. Here we dismounted, and those good
people returned. We continued thirteen miles to Williams' Fort, which
was commanded by Col. Kirkland, who received us very kindly.

Thursday, 23d. Set out from Col. Kirkland's, who was kind enough
to lend us horses as far as Saluda. Left the horses here ; crossed in a
scow; walked a mile to Col. Mayson's ; dined; got horses and rode to
Ninety Six. Arrived at Capt. John Barbarie's* quarters, about eight
o'clock in the evening.

Friday, 24th. Remained at Ninety Six; nothing extra.

Saturday, 25th. Set out for Charleston, Where I arrived the 29th
of November ; nothing worth notice on the journey.

*Capt. Barbarie belonged to the New Jersey Volunteers; was captured at Staten
Island in 1777; doubtless shared <r; the siege of Charleston, as he did in the siege of
Ninety Six, during which he was wounded ; and was again wounded at Lutaw Spriner. He
received half pay. and settled at St. Johns, New Brunswick, where he became a Colonel
of the militia, and a magistrate. He died at Sussex Vaie in 1818 at the age cf sixty-seven.
His son, Andrew Barbarie, was a member of the Assembly of that Province.

516 BRITISH A CCOUNTS.

KING'S MOUNTAIN BATTLE.

BRITISH ACCOUNTS.

[From Scot's Magazine, January, 1 781.]

Charleston, Dec, 27, 7/80.

A gentleman lately come to town has favored us with an account
of the base treatment the unfortunate officers and men met with who
surrendered prisoners of war, last October, to the Rebel Col. Campbell,
in the action of King's Mountain. A small party of the [British] militia
returning from foraging, unacquainted with the surrender, happening to
fire on the Rebels, the prisoners were immediately threatened with death
if the firing should be repeated.

The morning after the action, the prisoners were marched sixteen
miles ; previous to their march, orders were given by Campbell, should
they be attacked, to fire on and destroy every prisoner. The party kept
marching for two days without any kind of provisions. On the third
day's march all the baggage of the officers was seized, and shared
among the Rebel officers.

A few days after, a mock court-martial sat for the trial of the militia
prisoners ; when, after a short hearing, thirty gentlemen, some of the
most respectable characters in that country, had sentence of death
passed on them ; and at six o'clock the same day they began to execute.
Col. Mills and Capt. Chitwood, of North Carolina, Capt. Wilson, of
Ninety Six, and six privates, were first executed. The British officers
were compelled to attend at the execution of their brave but unfortunate
men ; who, with manly firmness, avowed their loyality in their last
moments, and with their latest breath expressed their unutterable detes-
tation for the Rebels, and their base and infamous proceedings. The
remaining twenty-one were reprieved for a time.

KING'S MOUNTAIN BATTLE.
[From Rivington's Royal Gazette, New York, February 24th, 1781.]

Extract from a letter from an officer,* dated Charleston, January
30th, 1 78 1.

This gentleman went from New York with a detachment drawn from
the Provincial Brigade, which was commanded by the brave Major
Patrick Ferguson. This letter gives the most circumstantial account yet

*This letter was evidently enough written by Lieut. Allaire, as a comparison with his
Diary proves ; and the same test shows that the preceding article from Scot's Magazine,
was dictated by him.

APPENDIX. 517

received of the action at King's Mountain, in South Carolina, Oct. seventh.

I think the last letter I wrote you was from Fort Moultrie, which I
left a few days after. We marched to a place called Ninety Six, which
is about two hundred miles from Charleston ; we lay there about a fort-
night in good quarters, after which we proceeded to the frontiers of South
Carolina, and frequently passed the line into North Carolina, and can
say with propriety, that there is not a regiment or detachment of his
Majesty's service, that ever went through the fatigues, or suffered so
much, as our detachment.

That you may have some faint idea of our suffering, I shall mention
a few particulars. In the first place we were separated from all the
army, acting with the militia ; we never lay two nights in one place,
frequently making forced marches of twenty and thirty miles in one
night ; skirmishing very often ; the greatest part of our time without rum
or wheat flour — rum is a very essential article, for in marching ten miles
we would often be obliged to ford two or three rivers, which wet the
men up to their waists.

In this disagreeable situation, we remained till the seventh of Octo-
ber, when we were attacked by two thousand five hundred Rebels, under
the command of Gen. Williams. Col. Ferguson had under his com-
mand eight hundred militia, and our detachment, which at that time
was reduced to an hundred men. The action commenced about two
o'clock in the afternoon, and was very severe for upwards of an hour,
during which the Rebels were charged and drove back several times,
with considerable slaughter. When our detachment charged, for the
first time, it fell to my lot to put a Rebel Captain to death, which I did
most effectually, with one blow of my sword ; the fellow was at least six
feet high, but I had rather the advantage, as I was mounted on an ele-
gant horse, and he on foot. But their numbers enabled them to sur-
round us and the North Carolina regiment, which consisted of about
three hundred men. Seeing this, and numbers being out of ammuni-
tion, which naturally threw the rest of the militia into confusion, our
gallant little detachment, which consisted of only seventy men, exclusive
of twenty who acted as dragoons, and ten who drove wagons, etc.,
when we marched to the field of action, were all killed and wounded
but twenty, and those brave fellows were soon crowded into an heap by
the militia. Capt. DePeyster, on whom the command devolved, seeing
it impossible to form six men together, thought it necessary to surrender,
to save the lives of the brave men who were left.

We lost in this action, Maj. Ferguson, of the Seventy-first regiment,
a man strongly attached to his King and country, well informed in the art
of war, brave, humane, and an agreeable companion — in short, he was
universally esteemed in the army, and I have every reason to regret his
unhappy fate. We lost eighteen men killed on the spot — Capt. Ryerson

518 BRITISH A CCOUNTS.

and thirty-two Sergeants and privates wounded, of Maj. Ferguson's
detachment. Lieutenant M'Ginnis of Allen's regiment, Skinner's
brigade, killed ; taken prisoners, two Captains, four Lieutenants, three
Ensigns, one Surgeon, and fifty-four Sergeants and privates, including
the wounded, wagoners, etc. The militia killed, one hundred, including
officers ; wounded, ninety ; taken prisoners about six hundred ; our
baggage all taken, of course.

The Rebels lost Brig.-Gen. Williams, and one hundred and thirty-five,
including officers, killed ; wounded nearly equal to ours. The morning
after the action we were marched sixteen miles, previous to which orders
were given by the Rebel Col. Campbell (whom the command devolved
on) that should they be attacked on their inarch, they were to fire on,
and destroy their prisoners. The party was kept marching two days
without any kind of provisions. The officers' baggage, on the third
day's march, was all divided among the Rebel officers.

Shortly after we were marched to Bickerstaffs settlement, where we
arrived on the thirteenth. On the fourteenth, a court martial, composed
of twelve field officers, was held for the trial of the militia prisoners ;
when, after a short hearing, they condemned thirty of the most principal
and respectable characters, whom they considered to be most inimical
to them, to be executed ; and, at six o'clock in the evening of the same
day, executed Col. Mills, Capt. Chitwood, Capt. Wilson, and six pri-
vates ; obliging every one of their officers to attend at the death of those
brave, but unfortunate Loyalists^ who all, with their last breath and
blood, held the Rebels and their cause as infamous and base, and as
they were turning off, extolled their King and the British Government.

On the morning of the fifteenth, Col. Campbell had intelligence that
Col. Tarleton was approaching him, when he gave orders to his men.
that should Col. Tarleton come up with them, they were immediately to
fire on Capt. DePeyster and his officers, who were in the front, and
then a second volley on the men. During this day's march the men
were obliged to give thirty-five Continental dollars for a single ear of
Indian corn, and forty for a drink of water, they not being allowed to
drink when fording a river ; in short, the whole of the Rebels' conduct
from the surrender of the party into their hands is incredible to relate.
Several of the militia that were worn out with fatigue, and not being
able to keep up, were cut down, and trodden to death in the mire.

After the party arrived at Moravian Town, in North Carolina, we
officers were ordered in different houses. Dr. Johnson (who lived with
me) and myself were turned out of our bed at an unseasonable hour
of the night, and threatened with immediate death if we did not make
room for some of Campbell's officers ; Dr. Johnson was, after this,
knocked down, and treated in the basest manner, for endeavoring to
dress a man whom they had cut on the march. The Rebel officers

APPENDIX, 519

would often go in amongst the prisoners, draw their swords, cut down
and wound those whom their wicked and savage minds prompted.

This is a specimen of Rebel lenity — you may report it without the
least equivocation, for upon the word and honor of a gentleman, this
description is not equal to their barbarity. This kind of treatment
made our time pass away very disagreeably. After we were in Moravian
Town about a fortnight, we were told we could not get paroles to return
within the British lines ; neither were we to have any till we were
moved over the mountains in the back parts of Virginia, where we were
to live on hoe cake and milk ; in consequence of this, Capt. Taylor,
Lieut. Stevenson and myself, chose rather to trust the hand of fate,
and agreeable to our inclinations, set out from Moravian Town the fifth
of November, and arrived at the British lines the twentieth. From this
town to Ninety Six, which was the first post we arrived at, is three
hundred miles ; and from Ninety Six to Charleston, two hundred, so
that my route was five hundred miles. The fatigues of this jaunt I
shall omit till I see you, although I suffered exceedingly ; but thank God
am now in Charleston in good quarters."

KING'S MOUNTAIN.

[From Rivington's New York Royal Gazette, March 21st, 1781. Copied

into a London paper, of April, 30th, and into the Charleston

Royal Gazette of October 27th following.]

Extract of a letter from an officer taken prisoner at King's Mountain,
dated Charleston, S. C, March 4th, 1781 :

Capt. DePeyster and I* were permitted to come within the lines
upon paroles, and were made exceedingly happy on our arrival in town,
being informed we were exchanged. After our misfortune in losing
Maj. Ferguson, the command devolved on Capt. DePeyster; he behaved
like a brave, good officer, and disputed the ground as long as it was
possible to defend it against four times our number. The action lasted
an hour and five minutes, very hot indeed. I must confess I was
pleased, though a prisoner, to see their loss superior to ours. It is an
agreeable satisfaction to think, that although they got the better of us,

d n 'em, we made them pay for it. I can assure you, sir, we deserved

success, although it was not in our power to command it.

*As Lieuts. Allaire, Taylor, and Stevenson had previously escaped from Bethabara,
and arrived in Charleston, the only officers left with Capt. DePeyster were Capt. Ryerson
and Lieut Fletcher. It was one of these — most likely Capt. Ryerson— who wrote this
letter.

520 PURSUIT— VICTORY.

COL. WILLIAMS TO GEN. GATES.

Burke County, Oct. 2d, 1780.

Sir: I am at present about seventy miles from Salisbury, in the
fork of the Catawba, with about four hundred and fifty horsemen, in
pursuit of Col. Ferguson. On my crossing the Catawba river, I dis-
patched to different quarters for intelligence, and this evening I was
favored with this news, which you may depend on : That Col. Clarke,
of the State of Georgia, with one hundred riflemen, forced his way from
South Carolina to Georgia. On his route thither, being joined by seven
hundred men, he proceeded to the town of Augusta, and has taken it
with a large quantity of goods ; but not finding it prudent to continue
there, he has retreated to the upper parts of South Carolina, in Ninety
Six district, and made a stand with eight hundred brave men.

This moment another of my expresses is arrived from Cols. Mc-
Dowell and Shelby ; they were on their march, near Burke Court House,
with fifteen hundred brave mountain men, and Col. Cleveland was within
ten miles of them with eight hundred men, and was to form a junction
with them this day. I expect to join them to-morrow, in pursuit of Col.
Ferguson, and under the direction of heaven, I hope to be able to render
your honor a good account of him in a few days.

I am, &c,

Maj.-Gen. Gates. JAMES WILLIAMS.

GEN. W. L. DAVIDSON TO GEN. SUMNER.

Camp, Rocky River, Oct. ioth, 1780.
Sir: I have the pleasure of sending you very agreeable intelligence
from the West. Ferguson, the great partisan, has miscarried. This we
are assured of by Mr. Tate, Brigade Major in Gen. Sumter's late com-
mand. The particulars from that gentleman's mouth stand thus : That
Cols. Campbell, Cleveland, Shelby, Sevier, Williams, Brandon, Lacey,
etc., formed a conjunct body near Gilbert Town, consisting of three
thousand. From this body were selected sixteen hundred good horse,
who immediately went in pursuit of CoL Ferguson, who was making
his way to Charlotte. Our people overtook him well posted on King's
Mountain, and on the evening of the seventh inst., at four o'clock, began
the attack, which continued forty -seven minutes. Col. Ferguson fell in the
action, besides one hundred and fifty of his men ; eight hundred and
ten were made prisoners, including the British, one hundred and fifty of
prisoners are wounded. Fifteen hundred stand of arms fell into our
hands. Col. Ferguson had about fourteen hundred men. Our people
surrounded them, and the enemy surrendered.

APPENDIX. 521

"We lost about twenty men, among whom is Maj. Chronicle, of
Lincoln County ; Col. Williams is mortally wounded. The number of
our wounded cannot be ascertained. This blow will certainly effect the
British very considerably. The Brigade Major who gives this, was
in the action. The above is true. I give you joy upon the occasion."

In forwarding the above to Gen. Gates, Gen. Sumner wrote from
Yadkin Ford, eight o'clock in the evening, October ioth : " With
great satisfaction I inform you of the defeat of Maj. Ferguson, four
o'clock on Saturday afternoon. The particulars I inclose you as I
received them a few minutes ago."

GEN. GATES TO GOV. JEFFERSON.

Hillsboro, Oct. I2tht 1780.
Sir: This instant I received the great and glorious news contained
in the enclosed letter from Brig.-Gen. Davidson to Gen. Sumner, who
directly dispatched it to me by express. We are now more than even
with the enemy. The moment the supplies for the troops arrive from
Taylor's Ferry, I shall proceed with the whole to the Yadkin. Gen.
Smallwood and Col. Morgan are on their way to that post ; the latter,
with the Light Infantry, was yesterday advanced eighteen miles beyond
Guilford Court House ; the former, with the cavalry, lay last night
thirteen miles on this side that place. I desire your Excellency will
dispatch copies of all the letters I now send to the President of Congress.

GEN. GATES' LETTER OF THANKS FOR KING'S
MOUNTAIN VICTORY.

Hillsboro, Oct. 12th, i/8o.
To the officers commanding in the late defeat of Maj. Ferguson:

Sirs: I received, this morning early, the very agreeable account of
your victory over Maj. Ferguson. It gave me, and every friend to
liberty, and the United States, infinite satisfaction.

I thank you, gentlemen, and the brave officers and soldiers under
your command, for your and their glorious behavior in that action. The
records of the war will transmit your names and theirs to posterity, with
the highest honor and applause. I desire you will acquaint them with
the sense I entertain of the great service they have done their country.
I have, this morning, by a special messenger, transmitted intelligence
of it to Congress.

522 OFFICIAL RETORT.

I am now only anxious about the disposal of the prisoners, as they
must be ready to use in exchange for our valuable citizens in the enemy's
hands. Send them under proper guards to Fincastle Court House, Vir-
ginia. I will desire the Colonel of that County to have a strong palisade,
eighteen feet high out of the ground, instantly set up, within which log
huts may be built to cover them. The guard must be without, and the
loop-holes eight feet from the ground. Provisions, etc., shall be ordered
to be provided for them.

OFFICIAL REPORT.

[From the Virginia Gazette, Nov. 18th, and Massachusetts Spy,
Nov. 30th, 1780.]

A state of the proceedings of the Western Army, from the 25th of Sep-
tember, 1780, to the reduction of Major Ferguson, and
the army under his command.

On receiving intelligence that Major Ferguson had advanced as high
up as Gilbert Town, in Rutherford County, and threatened to cross the
mountains to the western waters, Col. William Campbell, with four
hundred men from Washington County, Virginia, Col. Isaac Shelby,
with two hundred and forty from Sullivan County of North Carolina, and
Lieut.-Col. John Sevier, with two hundred and forty men, of Washing-
ton County, assembled at Watauga, on the 25th of September, where
they were joined by Col. Charles McDowell, with one hundred and
sixty men from the Counties of Burke and Rutherford, who had fled
before the enemy to the western waters.

We began our march on the 26th, and on the 30th we were joined by
Col. Cleveland, on the Catawba river, with three hundred and fifty men,
from the Counties of Wilkes and Surry. No one officer having properly
a right to command in chief, on the 1st of October, we dispatched an
express to Maj. Gen. Gates, informing him of our situation, and request-
ing him to send a general officer to take the command of the whole. In
the meantime Col. Campbell was chosen to act as commandant till such
general officer should arrive. We marched to the Cowpens, on Broad
river, in South Carolina, where we were joined by Col. James Williams,
with four hundred men, on the evening of the 6th of October, who in-
formed us, that the enemy lay encamped somewhere near the Cherokee
Ford, of Broad river, about thirty miles distant from us.

By a council of the principal officers, it was then thought advisable to
pursue the enemy that night with nine hundred of the best horsemen,
and leave the weak horses and footmen to follow as fast as possible. We

APPENDIX. 523

began our march with nine hundred of the best men, about eight o'clock
the same evening ; and, marching all night, came up with the enemy
about three o'clock p. m. of the 7th, who lay encamped on the top of
King's Mountain, twelve miles north of the Cherokee Ford, in the
confidence that they could not be forced from so advantageous a post.
Previous to the attack, on the march, the following disposition was
made : Col. Shelby's regiment formed a column in the center, on the
left ; Col. Campbell's regiment, another on the right ; with part of Col.
Cleveland's regiment, headed in front by Major Winston, and Col.
Sevier's regiment, formed a large column on the right wing. The other
part of Cleveland's regiment, headed by Col. Cleveland himself, and
Col. Williams' regiment, composed the left wing. In this order we
advanced, and got within a quarter of a mile of the enemy before we
were discovered.

Col. Shelby's and Col. Campbell's regiments began the attack, and
kept up a fire on the enemy, while the right and left wings were advanc-
ing to surround them, which was done in about five minutes, and the
fire became general all around. The engagement lasted an hour and
five minutes, the greater part of which time, a heavy and incessant fire
was kept up on both sides. Our men in some parts, where the regulars
fought, were obliged to give way a small distance, two or three times ;
but rallied and returned with additional ardor to the attack. The troops
upon the right having gained the summit of the eminence, obliged the
enemy to retreat along the top of the ridge to where Col. Cleveland
commanded, and were there stopped by his brave men. A flag was
immediately hoisted by Capt. DePeyster, the commanding officer
(Maj. Ferguson having been killed a little before), for a surrender. Our
fire immediately ceased, and the enemy laid down their arms, the
greatest part of them charged, and surrendered themselves to us pris-
oners at discretion.

It appears from their own provision returns for that day, found in their
camp, that their whole force consisted of eleven hundred and twenty-
five men ; out of which they sustained the following loss : Of the regulars,
one Major, one Captain, two Sergeants, and fifteen privates killed ;
thirty-five privates wounded, left on the ground, not able to march ; two
Captains, four Lieutenants, three Ensigns, one Surgeon, five Sergeants,
three Corporals, one Drummer, and forty-nine privates taken prisoners.
Loss of the Tories — two Colonels, three Captains, and two hundred and
one privates killed ; one Major, and one hundred and twenty-seven
privates wounded, and left on the ground, not able to march ; one
Colonel, twelve Captains, eleven Lieutenants, two Ensigns, one Quarter-
Master, one Adjutant, two Commissaries, eighteen Sergeants, and six
hundred privates taken prisoners. Total loss of the enemy, eleven
hundred and five men at King's Mountain.

524 SHELB Y'S A CCO UNTS.

Given under our hands at camp,

WILLIAM CAMPBELL,
ISAAC SHELBY,
BENJ. CLEVELAND.
The losses on our side were — one Colonel, one Major, one Captain,
two Lieutenants, Four Ensigns, nineteen privates killed — total, twenty-
eight killed ; one Major, three Captains, three Lieutenants, and fifty-five
privates wounded — total, sixty-two wounded.
Published by order of Congress,

CHARLES THOMSON, Secretary.

COL. ISAAC SHELBY TO HIS FATHER, GEN. EVAN SHELBY.
[From the Virginia Gazette, November 4th, 1780.]

I have herewith the pleasure to acquaint you, that on Saturday, the
7th inst., in the afternoon, we came up with Ferguson and his crew, who
lay encamped on the top of King's Mountain. The day was wet, and
that Providence who always rules and governs all things for the best, so
ordered it that we were close around them before we were discovered,
and formed in such position, so as to fire on them nearly about the same
time, though they heard us in time to form, and stood ready. The battle
continued warm for an hour ; the enemy finding themselves so embar-
rassed on all sides, surrendered themselves prisoners to us at discretion.

They had taken post at that place with the confidence that no force
could rout them ; the mountain was high, and exceedingly steep, so
that their situation gave them greatly the advantage ; indeed, it was
almost equal to storming a battery. In most places we could not see
them till we were within twenty yards of them. They repelled us three
times with charged bayonets ; but being determined to conquer or die,
we came up a fourth time, and fairly got possession of the top of the
eminence. Our loss I have not exactly collected, as the camp has been
in such disorder ; but believe the killed to be about thirty-five men, and
between fifty and sixty wounded.

A list of the killed, wounded, and prisoners of the British : Killed,
Maj. Ferguson, one Captain, two Surgeons, and twenty-six privates.
Wounded, one Lieutenant, and twenty-seven privates. Prisoners, one
Captain, five Lieutenants, one Surgeon, and fifty privates.

Tories killed : Two Colonels, two Captains, and one hundred and
twenty-five privates. Wounded, one hundred and twenty-five. Prison-
ers, one Colonel, one Major, twelve Captains, eleven Lieutenants, two
Ensigns, two Adjutants, one Commissary, one Quarter-Master, eighteen
Sergeants, and six hundred privates. Total, one thousand and sixteen ;

APPENDIX. 525

and seventeen baggage wagons, and twelve hundred stand of arms
taken.

Our loss of killed and wounded : Col. Williams, of South Carolina,
Capt. Edmondson, and five Lieutenants, of Virginia, and twenty-three
privates of the different States. Wounded fifty-four of the different
States.

COL. ISAAC SHELBY TO COL. ARTHUR CAMPBELL.
[From the Virginia Argus, October 26th, 1810.]

North Carolina, Oct. 12th, 7/80.

I have herewith the honor to acquaint you, that on Saturday, the 7th
inst., in the afternoon, after a forced march of forty-five miles on that
day and the night before, a detachment from our little army of mountain
men, of about nine hundred, under command of Col. William Camp-
bell, came up with Col. Ferguson, who lay encamped on King's
Mountain.

The forenoon of the day was wet, but we were fortunate enough to
come on him undiscovered, and took his pickets. We were soon formed
in such order as to attack the enemy on all quarters. The Washington
and Sullivan regiments began the attack on the front and left flank — the
North Carolina regiments, under Cols. Williams, Sevier, and Cleveland,
attacked the rear, and the other flank. The firing in about fifteen
minutes, became general, and was kept up with fury on both sides for
near an hour.

On the first onset, the Washington militia attempted rapidly to
ascend the mountain ; but were met by the British regulars with fixed
bayonets, and forced to retreat. They were soon rallied by their gallant
commander and some of his active officers, and, by a constant and well-
directed fire of our rifles, we drove them back, in our turn, and reached
the summit of the mountain, where the enemy, being closely surrounded,
surrendered prisoners at discretion. Their commander, Col. Ferguson,
attempted, a little before the close of the action, to make his escape on
horseback, but was intercepted by a few riflemen of the Sullivan regi-
ment, and fell dead when forcing his way.

The post taken by the enemy, gave them confidence that any force
the Americans could bring against them, could not defeat them. Truly
the situation of the ground gave them greatly the advantage, as the
mountain was high, and exceedingly steep in front, and interspersed
along the top with craggy cliffs of rocks ; in short, it was almost equal
to storming regular works.

526 CAMPBELL 'S A CCO UNT.

The enclosed* list contains an account of the loss of the enemy.
Ours is small .as to numbers, being about thirty killed, and something
over fifty wounded. Among the former are some brave men of our best
officers, whose services their countrymen ought long to remember with
gratitude.

COL. WM. CAMPBELL TO COL. ARTHUR CAMPBELL.

Wilkes County, Camp on Brier Creek, Oct. 20th-, 1/S0.

Dear Sir; Ferguson and his party are no more in circumstances to
injure the citizens of America. We came up with him in Craven
County, South Carolina, posted on a height, called King's Mountain,
about twelve miles north of the Cherokee Ford of Broad river, about
two o'clock in the evening of the 7th inst., we having marched the
whole night before.

Col. Shelby's regiment and mine began the attack, and sustained the
whole fire of the enemy for about ten minutes, while the other troops
were forming around the height upon which the enemy were posted.
The firing then became general, and as heavy as you can conceive for
the number of men. The advantageous situation of the enemy, being
the top of a steep ridge, obliged us to expose ourselves exceedingly ; and
the dislodging of them was almost equal to driving men from strong
breast-works ; though in the end we gained the point of the ridge, where
my regiment fought, and drove them along the summit of it nearly to the
other end, where Col. Cleveland and his countrymen were. They were
driven into a huddle, and the greatest confusion ; the flag for a surrender
was immediately hoisted, and as soon as our troops could be notified of
it, the firing ceased, and the survivors surrendered themselves prisoners
at discretion.

We fought an hour and five minutes, in which time two hundred and
twenty-five of the enemy were killed, and one hundred and thirty
wounded ; the rest, making about seven hundred regulars and Tories,
were taken prisoners. Ferguson was killed near the close of the action.
The victory was complete to a wish ; and I think it was won by about
seven hundred men, who fought bravely. I have lost several of my
brave friends, whose death I much lament. Maj. Edmondson will give
you their names, though I must myself mention Capt. Edmondson, his
two brothers, and Lieut. Bowen. My regiment has suffered more than
any other in the action. Our loss in the field was, altogether, about
thirty killed, and sixty wounded. I must proceed on with the prisoners
until I can in some way dispose of them. Probably I may go on to
Richmond, in Virginia.

* Not given, but doubtless the same as in the letter to Gen. Evan Shelby.

APPENDIX. 527

WASHINGTON'S GENERAL ORDER.

Head-quarters, Totoway, Oct, 27th, 1780.

The General has the pleasure to congratulate the army on an im-
portant advantage lately obtained in North Carolina, over a corps
of fourteen hundred men, British troops and new levies, commanded by
Col. Ferguson.

The militia of the neighboring Country, under Cols. Williams, Shelby,
and others, having assembled to the number of about three thousand
men, a detachment of sixteen hundred was sent on horseback to fall in
with Ferguson's party, on its march to Charlotte. They came up with the
enemy at a place called King's Mountain, advantageously posted, and
gave him a total defeat, in which Col. Ferguson, and a hundred and fifty
of his men were killed, eight hundred made prisoners, and fifteen hundred
stand of arms taken. On-our part, the loss was inconsiderable. We have
only to regret that the brave Col. Williams is mortally wounded.

These advantages will, in all probability, have a very happy
influence on opertions in that quarter, and are a proof of the spirit and
resources of the country.*

KING'S MOUNTAIN— A FRAGMENT.
By Col. Arthur Campbell.

Soon after the defeat of the American army under Gen. Gates, the
British commander in South Carolina made arrangements to invade
North Carolina and Virginia. With this view, he organized a corps of
the upland Tories, mostly riflemen, and attached to them two com-
panies of his regular troops, giving the command of the whole to Maj.
Patrick Ferguson, of the Seventy-first regiment, an intelligent officer,
and well calculated for a separate command. The corps on the first
outset, amounted to two thousand men. Orders were also sent to the
British Indian agents, to excite the Indians to invade the American set-
tlements west of the mountains ; and, if practicable, to proceed as far
as ChisweU's Lead Mines, and destroy the works and stores at that place.

The main body, commanded by Cornwallis in person, was to move
along the central road, by way of Salisbury, and form a junction with
Ferguson before he entered into Virginia. Ferguson's detachment
began the operation by marching towards the mountains ; and, on his
way, met with a small regiment of North Carolina militia commanded
by Charles and Joseph McDowell. They were attacked, and soon dis-
persed ; but the Colonel and Major, with a part of the men chose,

* Whiting's Revolutionary Orders, pp. 123-24.

528 A. CAMPBELL'S STATEMENT.

rather than submit, to pass over the Apalachian mountains, and take
refuge among their Whig brethern on the western waters. They arrived
in the settlement on Watauga river, without their families, to the number
of about one hundred and fifty men. Their tale was a doleful one, and
tended to excite the resentment of the western militia, who of late had
become inured to danger by fighting the Indians, and who had an utter
detestation of the tyranny of the British Government.

At this period, early in September, the County Lieutenant of Wash-
ington was in Richmond. There he had an interview with the Governor
of Virginia, who detailed the circumstances of Gen. Gates' defeat, the
measures about to be taken to retrieve the late misfortune, and to expel
the enemy from our country ; and that vigorous resistance everywhere
would soon put an end to the war. On the return of the County Lieuten-
ant, Col. Isaac Shelby, of North Carolina, sent to him a trusty messenger
to inform him of the progress of Ferguson, and the retreat of McDowell's
corps ; and also to inquire whether it would be prudent to make an effort
to enable the exiles to recross the mountains, and return to their own
homes. Mr. Adair, the messenger, was told the Governor's sentiments
on the subject of Gates' defeat, and the efforts that would soon be
made, by order of Congress, to check the progress of the enemy ; and
he was also assured, that if the western counties of North Carolina
would raise a force to join Col. McDowell's men, that the officers of
Washington County would co-operate to aid their friends to return home.

A consultation was soon had with the field officers, and a resolution
agreed on, to order half the militia of Washington County into actual
service, under the command of Col. William Campbell. All ranks
seemed animated with the same spirit, and the quota was raised and
equipped in a few days. An express was sent to Col. Cleveland, of
Wilkes" County, North Carolina, to let him know what was going on,
and to march all the men he could raise, to rendezvous at an appointed
place on the east side of the mountains. Cols. Shelby and Sevier acted
their part, with like promptitude, in the western counties of North Caro-
lina, and the whole met at Col. McDowell's encampment on Watauga.

On the twenty-eighth [twenty-sixth] of September our little army took
up its line of march, and the third day in the evening reached the other
side, without any opposition from the enemy. Two days afterwards,
Col. Cleveland joined his corps to the main body ; and the day after- |
wards Col. Williams, with three companies of volunteers from South
Carolina. A council of officers was held, and it was agreed that Col.
William Campbell, of Virginia, should take command of the whole,
and pursue the enemy. Col. Ferguson, after dispersing such parties of
the North Carolina militia as were embodied, followed Col. McDowell's
men as far as the foot of the great mountains, and after taking some
prisoners, and collecting a drove of beeves, he made a hasty retreat to

APPENDIX. 529

King's Mountain, in order to be nearer the main army, and on account
of the strong encampment that might be formed on the top of it. Our
newly elected commander reviewed his men, and selected all that were
fit for service of the mounted infantry, and ordered the footmen to fol-
low as they might be able to hold out.

Those who have been familiar with the principal officers who fought
on King's Mountain, and those who fought at Cowpens, will readily pro-
nounce that the latter was a mere skirmish compared with the arduous
affair on King's Mountain. There our heroes had to act as a forlorn
hope — storm the enemy's camp, defended by superior numbers, and
disciplined troops. The Virginia regiment alone had more killed than
the whole of Gen. Morgan's corps. This proves where the hard righting
was, more than the pompous tale of a partial historian. It was Fergu-
son's defeat that was the first link in a grand chain of causes, which
finally drew down ruin on the British interests in the Southern States,
and finally terminated the war of the Revolution.

It has been remarked why so small a number of the Americans were
killed at King's Mountain, compared with the loss of the enemy. Our
officers accounted for it in this way : The Tories occupied much the
least space of ground, and of course were more thickly planted than
the extended circle of the Americans around them, so that the fire of
our men seldom failed doing execution ; besides, when the Virginia
regiment reached the summit of the hill, the enemy was crowded, mak-
ing their retreat to the other end, without returning a shot ; and when
they were driven into a huddle by meeting the fire of Col. Williams'
division, they received a heavy fire before our troops could be notified
of the surrender.

AN ACCOUNT OF THE MARCH AND BATTLE OF KING'S

MOUNTAIN,
By an unknown member of Campbell's regiment.

On hearing of a large body of British and Tories assembled in North
Carolina, under the command of Col. Ferguson, and threatening to visit
Holston river, on the 22d of September, 1780, two hundred and fifty of
the militia of Washington County, Virginia, were ordered out under the
command of Col. William Campbell ; and rendezvoused on Watauga,
where they were joined by three hundred and fifty men from the west-
ern part of North Carolina under the command of Col. Sevier and Col.
Isaac Shelby, together with a party of one hundred and fifty men, under
the command of Col. Charles McDowell, who had been driven over the

mountains by Col. Ferguson. While we were yet at the place of rendez-
34

530 ANONYMO US STA TEMENT.

vous, Col. Arthur Campbell, believing that there was not a sufficient
force to successfully engage with the enemy, ordered out, and came on
with two hundred more of the Washington militia, and joined us at
Watauga. Col. Arthur Campbell returned home to take care of the
frontiers, which were left bare of. men, and were in danger of being
attacked by the Indians, who were near neighbors.

A council was held to select a commander, and it was unanimously
given to Col. William Campbell. We began our march from Watauga
on the 27th* of September, with nine hundred and fifty men. With a
very bad road, we were four days in passing the mountains, when we
arrived at the settlements of North Carolina ; and the next day we were
joined by Col. Cleveland, from Wilkes County, and Maj. Winston, from
Surry, with four hundred men. From there we proceeded on, living
mostly on parched corn. We left four hundred footmen behind, not
being able to keep up with the horse, and the fifth [sixth] of October, joined
Col. Williams, and some Georgia troops, being about three hundred and
fifty. From Col. Williams' camp, we set out about dark, and traveled
all that night, expecting to attack the enemy about break of day ; but
Col. Ferguson sometime before hearing of our coming, retreated, and
took an advantageous position at a place called King's Mountain, where
the enemy thought they were very safely posted, and sent to Cornwallis
for a re-inforcement. But Col. Campbell proceeded so precipitately on
his march, that we came on them with surprise, on the 7th of October,
the sun being about an hour and a half high.

Col. Campbell ordered Col. Williams and Col. Cleveland to the left,
and Col. Shelby for a reserve, and attacked on the right himself, mak-
ing the first onset ; but the action soon became general — Col. Williams
and Col. Cleveland acting with great bravery on the left. Col. Fergu-
son ordered a charge to be made on the Virginia regiment, which forced
some of them to retreat a short distance ; but they were rallied again,
but the enemy fell so fast that they were obliged to retire to the top of
the mountain. Col. Shelby with the reserve came up, and in about half
an hour the enemy was surrounded.

Too much cannot be said in praise of our brave commander, who ex-
erted himself, animating the men to victory. We advanced on the enemy,
and broke their lines ; but they were rallied three times by Col. Fergu-
son, but to no effect ; our men pressing so close on them on every side,
at length that active British officer, losing all hopes of victory, thought
with some others to break through our lines and get off; but fell in the
attempt, Col. Ferguson having two balls through his body, and one
through his head. The enemy then soon surrendered. The action
lasted an hour and five minutes. The enemy had about two hundred

,;tThe official report, and Ensign Campbell's Diary, state that it was the 26th.

APPENDIX. 531

and thirty dead on the ground, and a number wounded. We lost some
brave officers, and about thirty-five lay dead on the ground. The
enemy mostly over-shot us, as we marched up the mountain. It was
dark again we got the prisoners under guard. Cornwallis had sent
Tarleton with four hundred dragoons to re-inforce Col. Ferguson, but
hearing of his retreat, returned.

COL. CAMPBELL'S GENERAL ORDERS.

Camp below Gilbert Town, Oct. u, 1780.
Return of the strength of the different regiments, with the rank and
number of the dead and wounded, in the late action, to be imme-
diately made out. Two hundred privates, with the proper and necessary
number of officers, to mount guard every morning, who, with the field
officers of the day, are to march with the front of the army, and when
we camp are to take the charge of the prisoners immediately, to detach
the necessary pickets and patrols. I must request the officers of all
ranks in the army to endeavor to restrain the disorderly manner of
slaughtering and disturbing the prisoners. If it cannot be prevented
by moderate measures, such effectual punishment shall be executed
upon delinquents as will put a stop to it.

Camp at Col. Walker's, Oct. ij, 1780.

Parole Newburn.

The Deputy Quarter-Masters, under the direction of the Quarter-
Master General, to dispose of the wounded of their respective regiments,
who are not able to march with the army, in the best manner they can,
in the vicinity of this place. The Quarter-Masters to call upon the
companies to which the wounded belong, for any necessary assistance
for their removal. The Adjutants to wait upon the Brigade-Major at six
o'clock every day for the orders. The army to march without fail by
ten o'clock.

Camp at , Oct. 14, 1780.

The many desertions from the army, and consequent felonies com-
mitted by those who desert, oblige me once more to insist that proper
regimental returns be made every morning, noting down the names of
those who desert, that such may hereafter be punished with the justice
which their crimes deserve ; and officers commanding regiments are
requested not to discharge any of their troops until we can dispose of

532 CAMPBELL'S ORDERS.

the prisoners to a proper guard. The Quarter-Master General to see
the ammunition taken from the enemy properly issued to the troops who
have not yet drawn any of it. The Commissary-General to send small
parties before us upon our route to collect provisions; and he is hereby
empowered to call upon the commanding officers of the different regi-
ments for such parties. It is with anxiety I hear the complaints of the
inhabitants on account of the plundering parties who issue out from the
camp, and indiscriminately rob both Whig and Tory, leaving our
friends, I believe, in a worse situation than the enemy would have done.
I hope the officers will exert themselves in suppressing this abominable
practice, degrading to the name of soldier, by keeping their soldiers
close in camp, and preventing their straggling off upon our marches.

Camp at Bethabara, Oct. 26, 1780.

Parole Henry.

Col. Cleveland to take the command of the guards now here, and
of those who may come to camp until I return, and in the meantime to
issue such orders as may be necessary. Should I by letter direct the
prisoners and troops to move from here, they are to do it, and go to
such place as I shall so direct. The officers and soldiers all to lodge in
camp, and to be and remain there from eight o'clock at night, until
next morning after guard mounting, under pain of arrest or confine-
ment. The officers ordered on guard, to attend strictly to their duty
until they are relieved. The Commissary to issue full rations to the
prisoners. The regular officers to continue at the place until I return,
unless I shall direct them to be removed with the other prisoners. It is
hoped no insult or violence unmerited will be offered to them. My wish
is that no unnecessary injury be done to the inhabitants of this place or
the adjacent country. No liquor to be sold or issued to the troops with-
out an order from the commanding officer for the time being. This
order respects all retailers of spirituous liquors in or near camp, of which
they are to be made acquainted.

VOTE OF THANKS OF THE VIRGINIA LEGISLATURE
TO COLONEL CAMPBELL.

In the Virginia House of Delegates, Nov. 10th, 1780.

Resolved, nemine contradicente, that the thanks of this House be
given to Col. Wm. Campbell, of the County of Washington, and to the
officers and soldiers of the militia under his command, who spontane-
ously equipt themselves, and went forth to the aid of a sister State, suffer-
ing distress under the invasion and ravages of the common enemy, and

APPENDIX. 533

who combined with some detachments of militia from the neighboring
States judiciously concerted, and bravely executed, an attack upon a party
of the enemy commanded by Maj. Ferguson, consisting of about eleven
hundred and forty-five men, British and Tories, strongly posted on
King's Mountain ; when after a severe and bloody conflict of upwards
of an hour, the survivors of the enemy were compelled to surrender
themselves prisoners of war. And that Col. Campbell be requested to
communicate the contents of this resolution to the gallant officers and
soldiers who composed his party.

Ordered, that Mr. Joseph Jones of King George, Mr. Richard
Henry Lee, and Mr. Fleming, be a committee to communicate the fore-
going vote of thanks to Col. Campbell.

Test: JOHN BECKLEY, C. H. D.

In the Virginia Senate, Nov. 13th, 1780.

Resolved, nemine contradicente, that the thanks of this House are
justly due to Col. Wm. Campbell, of Washington County, and the brave
officers and soldiers under his command, who, with an ardor truly
patriotic, in the month of September last, without waiting for the call of
Government, voluntarily marched out to oppose the common enemy, at
that time making depredations on the frontiers of North Carolina, and
on the 7th day of October, by a well-timed, judicious, and spirited
attack, with a force inferior to that of Maj. Ferguson, then advan-
tageously posted on King's Mountain, with upwards of eleven hundred
men, and by perseverance and gallantry rarely to be met with even
among veteran troops, totally defeated the whole party ; whereby 9 for-
midable and dangerous scheme of the enemy was effectually frustrated.

Test : WILL. DREW, C. S.

COL. HENRY LEE TO COL. CAMPBELL.

March iftk, 178 1.

I am very happy in informing you that the bravery of your battalion,
displayed in the action of the 15th, is particularly noticed by the Gen-
eral. It is much to be lamented that a faiiure took place in the line
which lost the day, separated us from the main body, and exposed our
retreat. I hope your men are safe, and that the scattered will again
collect. Be pleased to favor me with a return of your loss, and prepare
your men for a second battle.

I am, most respectfully, your obedient servant,

HENRY LEE, Jun.
COL. CAMPBELL.

534 LA FA YETTE'S EULOGY.

GEN. GREENE TO COL. CAMPBELL.

Head-quarters, March igth, 7/81.

Sir: — Your faithful services, and the exertions which you made to
second the efforts of the Southern army, on the 15th inst, claim my
warmest thanks. It would be ungenerous not to acknowledge my entire
approbation of your conduct, and the spirited and manly behavior of
the officers and soldiers under you. Sensible of your merit, I feel a
pleasure in doing justice to it. Most of the riflemen having gone home,
and not having it in my power to make up another command, you have
my permission to return home to your friends, and should the emer-
gency of the Southern operations require your further exertions, I will
advertise you.

I am, sir, with great esteem, your most humble servant,

NATH'L. GREENE.

COL. CAMPBELL.

LAFAYETTE'S ORDERS.

August, 25 tht 178 1.

The General has no doubt but that the army will unite with him in
regretting Gen. Campbell's death, an officer whose services must have
endeared him to every citizen, and in particular to every American
soldier. The glory which Gen. Campbell has acquired at the affairs of
King's Mountain and Guilford Court House, will do his memory ever-
lasting honor, and ensure him an high rank among the defenders
of liberty in the American cause.

The General wishes it had been possible for himself and the officers
of the army, to have paid him those honors to which his rank, but par-
ticularly his merit, so highly entitle him ; but his great distance from the
army, and our present situation, render it impossible.

The Lieutenant of the County will assemble a corps of militia, and
pay military' honors to the deceased General. Gen. Stevens is requested
to name a deputation of four field officers, who will immediately repair
to Rocky Mills, and in the name of the army pay Gen. Campbell their
last respects.

LA FAYETTE,

Wm. Barber, D. A. G.

APPENDIX. 535

[Extract from a letter from James Monroe, Governor of Virginia, to

Robert R. Livingston, Minister Plenipotentiary from the U. S.

to France, dated Richmond, Dec. 15th, 1801 :]

Sir: You will forgive my troubling you with an object which I do in
confidence that you will execute it with pleasure. The late Gen. William
Campbell of this State, a very gallant officer of the militia, rendered
important services to his country in a severe encounter with a detach-
ment of the British under the command of Col. Ferguson, on a moun-
tain called King's Mountain, in North Carolina, in the year 1780. In
that action, in which Gen. Campbell displayed great gallantry, Col.
Ferguson was killed, his party defeated, and by means of it, the first
check given to the British in the South, after a series of unfortunate
events. In consideration of his services on the occasion, and as a testi-
mony of the public acknowledgement of his merit, the General Assem-
bly voted him a horse completely caparisoned, and a sword which the
Executive was desired to present him with. It remains to provide the
sword, which I have to request you will be so kind as to undertake for
the Commonwealth.

DIARY OF MEMORANDUMS.

[From a small book kept by Ensign Robert Campbell.]

At the battle of King's Mountain the Americans had thirty killed, and
about sixty wounded ; the British two hundred and twenty-five killed,
and something less than that number wounded.

Col. David Campbell, of Campbell's Station, was in Dysart's com-
pany at the battle of King's Mountain. Col. Robert Campbell was the
Ensign in the same company.

In the expedition to King's Mountain, Col. Campbell, Col. Shelby,
and Col. Sevier rendezvoused at the Sycamore Flats, on Watauga, at the
foot of Yellow Mountain, on the 25th of September, 1780. Next day,
the 26th, they ascended this mountain, mostly on horseback, and en-
camped at night in the gap of the mountain on the opposite side. The
ascent over this part of the mountain was not very difficult. There was a
road ; but not one on which wagons could pass. No provisions were taken
but such as each man could carry in his wallet or saddle-bags. The sides
and top of the mountain were covered with snow, shoe-mouth deep. On
the top of the mountain there was about one hundred acres of beautiful
table land, in which a spring issued, ran through it, and over into the
Watauga. Here the troops paraded. On reaching the plane beyond the
mountain, they found themselves in a country covered with verdure, and

536 R. CAMPBELL'S ACCOUNT.

breathed an atmosphere of summer mildness. The second night— the night
of the 27th, they rested at Cathey's plantation. The third day, the 28th,
they fell in with Gen. McDowell, and that night held a consultation of the
officers. The General was without troops, yet his rank and former services
could not easily be overlooked. It was stated in the council, that they
needed an experienced officer to command them. Morgan was the man
they wanted, and to obviate all difficulties Gen. McDowell offered to be
the bearer of their wishes to Gen. Gates. The fourth night, the 29th, they
rested at a rich Tory's, where they obtained abundance of every neces-
sary refreshment. On the fifth day, the 30th, they reached the Catawba,
and were there joined by Cleveland. Here they dispatched Gen. Mc-
Dowell to Gen. Gates.

On passing near the Cowpens, they heard of a large body of Tories
about eight miles distant ; and although the main enterprise was not to
be delayed a single moment, a party of eighty volunteers, under Ensign
Robert Campbell, was dispatched in pursuit of them during the night.
They had, however, removed before the party came to the place, who,
after riding all night, came up with the main body next day. On the
next night a similar expedition was conducted by Captain Colvill, with no
better success, but without causing any delay.

The battle was fought on Saturday, the 7th day of October, 1780. On
the next Saturday, a court martial was held for the trial of the Tories.
This is represented in history to have taken place immediately ; but it
was the eighth day after the battle.

COL. ROBERT CAMPBELL'S CERTIFICATE.

I was an Ensign in Captain Dysart's company, in the battle of
King's Mountain. Frequently saw Col. Campbell riding along our lines
animating the men. About the middle of the action, Col. Shelby came
riding where I was, and ordered me to follow him to a particular position
to the right, to attack some of the enemy that were annoying us. We
marched after him some distance, when the enemy fired at us. He then
ordered me to form on a spur of the mountain in front, and retired. I
there kept up a fire on the enemy until they retired to their main body,
at which time I saw their flag raised. At this moment Col. Sevier came
riding up, and we marched up with him to the line of surrender. I then
discovered I was on the opposite side of the enemy from the Virginia
regiment to which I belonged. I went round immediately in search of
my brother. Col. Campbell shook me by the hand, and ordered me to
mount one of the enemy's horses, and bring in all the men I could to
guard the prisoners, which I did. Col. Campbell at this time was in his
shirt sleeves.

APPENDIX. 537

[From the Annals of the Army of Te?messee, Oct., 1878.

MSS. of the Tennessee Historical Society.]

BATTLE OF KING'S MOUNTAIN.

By Ensign Robert Campbell.

The following account of the Battle of King's Mountain was found
amongst the papers of James Campbell, deceased. It was written by
Robert Campbell, an Ensign in Capt. Dysart's company, who, upon
Capt. Dysart being wounded early in the action, commanded the com-
pany afterward. The scene is not within the limits of our State, but as
we were then a portion of the Territory of North Carolina, and as many
of our families had relatives engaged in it, I have thought proper to
transcribe it, to be filed with the other historical documents of our
Society. John R. Eakin.

Nashville, Te7tn., 1848.

In the fall of the year 1780, when the American cause wore a very
gloomy aspect in the Southern States, Cols. Arthur and William Camp-
bell, hearing of the advance of Colonel Ferguson along the mountains
in the State of North Carolina, and that the Whigs were retreating
before him, unable to make any effectual resistance, formed a plan to
intercept him, and communicated it to the commanding officers of Sulli-
van and Washington Counties, in the State of North Carolina. They
readily agreed to co-operate in any expedition against Col. Ferguson.
Col. Arthur Campbell immediately ordered the militia of Washington
Co., Virginia, amounting to near four hundred, to make ready to march
under command of Col. Wm. Campbell, who was known to be an enter-
prising and active officer. Cols. Shelby and Sevier raised a party of
three hundred, joined him on his march, and moved with forced marches
toward Col. Ferguson. At the same time Cols. Williams, Cleveland,
Lacey, and Brandon, of the States of North and South Carolina, each
conducted a small party toward the same point, amounting to near three
hundred. Col. Ferguson had notice of their approach by a deserter that
left the army on the Yellow Mountain, and immediately commenced his
march for Charlotte, dispatching at the same time different messengers
to Lord Cornwallis with information of his danger. These messengers
being intercepted on their way, no movement was made to favor his
retreat.

These several corps of American volunteers, amounting to near one
thousand men, met at Gilbert Town, and the officers unanimously chose
Colonel Campbell to the command. About seven hundred choice riflemen
mounted their horses for the purpose of following the retreating army.
The balance being chiefly footmen, were left to follow on and come up
as soon as they could. The pursuit was too rapid to render an escape

538 R- CAMPBELL'S ACCOUNT.

practicable. Ferguson, finding that he must inevitably be over-taken,
chose his ground, and waited for the attack on King's Mountain. On the
7th of October, in the afternoon, after a forced march of forty-five
miles on that day and the night before, the volunteers came up with him.
The forenoon of the day was wet, but they were fortunate enough to
come on him undiscovered, and took his pickets, they not having it in
their power to give an alarm. They were soon formed in such order as
to attack the enemy on all sides. The Washington and Sullivan regi-
ments were formed in the front and on the right flank ; the North and
South Carolina troops, under Cols. Williams, Sevier, Cleveland, Lacey,
and Brandon, on the left. The two armies being in full view, the center
of the one nearly opposite the center of the other — the British main
guard posted nearly half way down the mountain — the commanding
officer gave the word of command to raise the Indian war-whoop and
charge. In a moment, King's Mountain resounded with their shouts, and
on the first fire the guard retreated, leaving some of their men to crim-
son the earth. The British beat to arms, and immediately formed on
the top of the mountain, behind a chain of rocks that appeared impreg-
nable, and had their wagons drawn up on their flank across the end of
the mountain, by which they made a strong breast-work.

Thus concealed, the American army advanced to the charge. In ten
or fifteen minutes the wings came round, and the action became general.
The enemy annoyed our troops very much from their advantageous
position. Col. Shelby, being previously ordered to reconnoitre their
position, observing their situation, and what a destructive fire was kept
up from behind those rocks, ordered Robert Campbell, one of the officers
of the Virginia Line, to move to the right with a small company to en-
deavor to dislodge them, and lead them on nearly to the ground to
which he had ordered them, under fire of the enemy's lines and within
forty steps of the same ; but discovering that our men were repulsed
on the other side of the mountain, he gave orders to advance, and post
themselves opposite to the rocks, and near to the enemy, and then re-
turned to assist in bringing up the men in order, who had been charged
with the bayonet. These orders were punctually obeyed, and they kept
up such a galling fire as to compel Ferguson to order a company of reg-
ulars to face them, with a view to cover his men that were posted behind
theTOcks. At this time, a considerable fire was drawn to this side of the
mountain by the repulse of those on the other, and the Loyalists not
being permitted to leave their posts. This scene was not of long dura-
tion, for it was the brave Virginia volunteers, and those under Col.
Shelby, on their attempting rapidly to ascend the mountain, that were
charged with the bayonet. They obstinately stood until some of them
were thrust through the body, and having nothing but their rifles by
which to defend themselves, they were forced to retreat. They were

APPENDIX. 539

soon rallied by their gallant commanders, Campbell, Shelby and other
brave officers, and by a constant and well-directed fire of their rifles,
drove them back in their turn, strewing the face of the mountain with
their assailants, and kept advancing until they drove them from some of
their posts.

Ferguson being heavily pressed on all sides, ordered Capt. DePeyster
to reinforce some of the extreme posts with a full company of British regu-
lars. He marched, but to his astonishment when he arrived at the place
of destination, he had almost no men, being exposed in that short dis-
tance to the constant fire of their rifles. He then ordered his cavalry to
mount, but to no purpose. As quick as they were mounted, they were
taken down by some bold marksmen. Being driven to desperation by
such a scene of misfortune, Col. Ferguson endeavored to make his
escape, and, with two Colonels of the Loyalists, mounted his horse, and
charged on that part of the line which was defended by the party who
had been ordered round the mountain by Col. Shelby, it appearing too
weak to resist them. But as soon as he got to the line he fell, and the
other two officers, attempting to retreat, soon shared the same fate. It
was about this time that Col. Campbell advanced in front of his men,
and climbed over a steep rock close by the enemy's lines, to get a view
of their situation, and saw they were retreating from behind the rocks
that were near to him. As soon as Capt. DePeyster observed that Col.
Ferguson was killed, he raised a flag and called for quarters. It was
soon taken out of his hand by one of the officers on horseback, and
raised so high that it could be seen by our line, and the firing immedi-
ately ceased. The Loyalists, at the time of their surrender, were driven
into a crowd, and being closely surrounded, they could not have made
any further resistance.

In this sharp action, one hundred and fifty of Col. Ferguson's party
were killed, and something over that number were wounded. Eight
hundred and ten, of whom one hundred were British regulars, surren-
dered themselves prisoners, and one thousand five hundred stand of
arms were taken. The loss of the American army on this occasion
amounted to thirty killed, and something over fifty wounded, among
whom were a number of brave officers. Col. Williams, who has been so
much lamented, was shot through the body, near the close of the action,
in making an attempt to charge upon Ferguson. He lived long enough
to hear of the surrender of the British army. He then said, " I die con-
tented, since we have gained the victory," and expired.

The third night after the action, the officers of the Carolinas com-
plained to Col. Campbell, that there were among the prisoners a number
who had, previous to the action on King's Mountain, committed cool
and deliberate murder, and other enormities alike atrocious, and re-
quested him to order a court-martial to examine into the matter. They

540 SHELB Y'S STA TEMENT.

stated that if they should escape, they were exasperated, and they feared
they would commit other enormities worse than they had formerly done.
Col. Campbell complied, and ordered a court-martial immediately to sit,
composed of the Field Officers and Captains, who were ordered to inquire
into the complaints which had been made. The court was conducted
orderly, and witnesses were called and examined in each case. The con-
sequence was that there were thirty-two condemned. Out of these, nine
who were thought the most dangerous, and who had committed the most
atrocious crimes, were executed. The others were pardoned by the com-
manding officer. One of the crimes proven against a Captain that was
executed was, that he had called at the house of a Whig, and inquired if
he was at home, and being informed by his son, a small boy, that he
was not, he immediately drew out his pistol and shot him. The officers
on the occasion acted from an honorable motive to do the greatest good
in their power for the public service, and to check those enormities so
frequently committed in the States of North and South Carolina at that
time, their distress being almost unequaled in the annals of the Ameri-
can Revolution.

KING'S MOUNTAIN— BY COL. ISAAC SHELBY.

In 1815, and again in 1819, Gen. Martin D. Hardin, of Kentucky, had
conversations with Governor Shelby with special reference to the battles of
Musgrove's Mill, and King's Mountain, which he carefully noted down at the
time ; and which his son, the late Hon. John J. Hardin, of Illinois, communi-
cated to the American Review, for December, 1848. That part relative to
King's Mountain is as follows :

In the early part of the year 1780, Col. Shelby was appointed Colonel
of Sullivan County in North Carolina, with the authority of County
Lieutenant. Col. Sevier held the same command in Washington
County, North Carolina. These Counties are situated west of the Alle-
ghany mountains, and now constitute a part of Tennessee. Col. William
Campbell, at the same time, commanded a regiment in Washington
County, Virginia, but was not the County Lieutenant. After the defeat
of Gen. Gates, at Camden, on the 16th of August, 1780, the patriots were
very much dispirited. Many who resided in the eastern portions of North
and South Carolina, sought safety and liberty in the mountains of North
Carolina and Virginia, amidst the hardy, patriotic mountaineers of those
districts.

In September, 1780, Maj. Ferguson, who was one of the best and
most enterprising of the British officers in America, had succeeded in
raising a large body of Tories, who, with his own corps of regulars, con-

APPENDIX. 541

stituted an effective force of eleven hundred and twenty-five men.
With a view of cutting off Col. Clarke, of Georgia, who had recently
made a demonstration against Augusta, which was then in the hands of
the British, Ferguson had marched near the Blue Ridge, and had taken
post at Gilbert Town, which is situated but a few miles from the moun-
tains. Whilst there he discharged a patriot, who had been taken
prisoner, on his parole, and directed him to tell Col. Shelby, (who had
become obnoxious to the British and Tories from the affair at Musgrove's
Mill,) that if Shelby did not surrender, he (Ferguson) would come over
the mountains, and put him to death, and burn his whole County.

It required no further taunt to rouse the patriotic indignation of Col.
Shelby. He determined to make an effort to raise a force, in connec-
tion with other officers which should surprise and defeat Ferguson.
With this object in view, he went to a horse-race near where Jones-
borough has since been built, to see Sevier and others. Shelby and
Sevier there resolved, that if Col. Campbell would join them, they would
raise all the force they could, and attack Ferguson ; and if this was not
practicable they would co-operate with any corps of the army of the
United States with which they might meet. If they failed, and the
country was over-run and subdued by the British, they would then take
water, and go down to the Spaniards in Louisiana.

Col. Campbell was notified of their determination, and a place of
rendezvous appointed in the mountains, east of Jonesborough. At the
time appointed, September 25th, Campbell joined them, and their united
force numbered about one thousand mounted riflemen. They crossed
the mountains on the 27th, in a ravine ; and fell in, accidentally, with
Col. Cleveland, of North Carolina, who had under his command about
four hundred men.

The force having been raised by officers of equal rank, and being
without any higher officer entitled to command the whole corps, there
was a general want of arrangement and organization. It was then deter-
mined, that a board of officers should convene each night, and decide
on the plan of operations for the next day ; and further, that one of the
officers should see those orders executed as officer of the day, until they
should otherwise conclude. Shelby proposed that Col. Campbell should
act as officer of the day. Campbell took him aside, and requested Shelby
to withdraw his name, and consent to serve himself. Shelby replied that
he was himself the youngest Colonel present from his State, that he had
served during that year under several of the officers who were present,
and who might take offence if he commanded ; that Gen. McDowell, who
was with them, was too slow an officer for his views of the enterprise in
which they were engaged, and added that as he ranked Campbell, yet as
Campbell was the only officer from Virginia, if he (Shelby) pressed his
appointment, no one would object. Col. Campbell felt the force of

542 SHELB V'S STA TEMENT.

this reasoning, and consented to serve, and was appointed to the com-
mand as officer of the day.

The force of the detachment was still considered insufficient to attack
Ferguson, as his strength was not known. It was agreed that an express
be sent to invite Gen. Morgan or Gen. Davidson to take the command.
Gen. McDowell tendered his services for this purpose, and started on his
mission. Before proceeding far, he fell in with Col. Williams, of South
Carolina, who was at the head of from two to three hundred refugees.
Gen. McDowell advised them where the patriot force was encamped.
They joined the army, and thus made a muster-roll of about sixteen
hundred men.

The board of officers determined to march upon Ferguson. In the
meantime, two or three of their men had deserted after their first ren-
dezvous, and had gone to Ferguson, and advised him of the intended
attack. The army marched to Gilbert Town, and found that Ferguson
had left it several days before, having taken the route towards Fort
Ninety Six.

Finding that Ferguson was retreating, and learning what was his real
strength, it was determined on Thursday night, the 5th of October, to
make a desperate effort to overtake him before he should reach any
British post, or receive any further reinforcements. Accordingly they
selected all who had good horses, who numbered about nine hundred
and ten, and started the next morning in pursuit of Ferguson, as soon as
they could see.

Ferguson, after marching a short distance towards Ninety Six, had
filed off to the left towards Lord Cornwallis. His pursuers never stopped
until late in the afternoon, when they reached the Cowpens. They there
halted, shot down some beeves, ate their suppers, and fed their horses.
This done, the line of march was resumed, and continued through the
whole night, amidst an excessively hard rain. In the morning, Shelby
ascertained that Campbell had taken a wrong road in the night, and had
separated from him. Men- were posted off in all directions, and Camp-
bell's corps found, and put in the right road. They then crossed Broad
river, and continued their pursuit until twelve o'clock of the 7th of
October. The rain continued to fall so heavily that Campbell, Sevier
and Cleveland cmrcraded to halt, and rode up to Shelby to inform him

of their ^determination. Shelby replied, "By , I will not stop until

night, if I follow Ferguson into Cornwallis' lines." Without replying, the
other Colonels turned off to their respective commands, and continued
the march. They had proceeded but a mile, when they learned that
Ferguson was only seven miles from them at King's Mountain.

Ferguson, finding he could not elude the rapid pursuit of the mounted
mountaineers, had marched to King's Mountain, which he considered a
strong post, and which he had reached the night previous. The mountain

APPENDIX. 543

or ridge, was a quarter of a mile long, and so confident was Ferguson in
the strength of his position, that he declared, "the Almighty could not
drive him from it."

When the patriots came near the mountain they halted, tied all their
loose baggage to their saddles, fastened their horses, and left them under
charge of a few men, and then prepared for an immediate attack. About
three o'clock the patriot force was led to the attack in four columns —
Col. Campbell commanded the right centre column, Col. Shelby the
left centre, Col. Sevier the right flank column, and Col. Cleveland
the left flank. As they came to the foot of the mountain, the right centre
and right flank columns deployed to the right, and the left centre and
left flank columns to the left, and thus surrounding the mountain they
marched up, commencing the action on all sides.

Ferguson did all that an officer could do under the circumstances.
His men too fought bravely. But his position, which he thought impreg-
nable against any force the patriots could raise, was really a disadvantage
to him. The summit was bare, whilst the sides of the mountain were
covered with trees. Ferguson's men were drawn up in close column on
the summit, and thus presented fair marks for the mountaineers, who
approached them under cover of the trees. As either column would
approach the summit, Ferguson would order a charge with fixed bayonet,
which was always successful, for the riflemen retreated before the charg-
ing column slowly, still firing as they retired. When Ferguson's men
returned to regain their position on the mountain, the patriots would
again rally and pursue them. In one of these charges, Shelby's column
was considerably broken ; he rode back and rallied his men, and when
the enemy retired to the summit, he pressed on his men and reached
the summit whilst Ferguson was directing a charge against Cleveland.

Col. Sevier reached the summit about the same time with Shelby.
They united and drove back the enemy to one end of the ridge. Cleve-
land's and Campbell's columns were still pressing forward, and firing as
they came up. The slaughter of the enemy was great, and it was evident
that further resistance would be unavailing ; still Ferguson's proud heart
could not think of surrender. He swore "he never would yield to such
a d — d banditti," and rushed out from his men, sword in hand, and cut
away until he broke his sword, and was shot down. His men, seeing
their leader fall, immediately surrendered. The British loss in killed and
prisoners was eleven hundred and five. Ferguson's morning report
showed a force of eleven hundred and twenty-five. A more total defeat
was not practicable. Our loss was about forty killed. Amongst them
we had to mourn the death of Col. Williams, a most gallant and efficient
officer. The battle lasted one hour.

The victors encamped on the mountain that night, and the next morn-
ing took up their line of march for the mountains under a bright sun, the

544 SHELB VS STA TEMENT.

first they had seen for many days. They made the prisoners carry their
own arms, as they could not have carried them in any other way.
Amongst the prisoners, Shelby found some officers who had fought under
him a few weeks previously at Musgrove's Mill. They said they had been
compelled to join Ferguson, and when they had been examined, and their
account found to be correct, they were well treated.

Owing to the number of wounded, and the destitution of the army of
all conveyances, they traveled slowly, and in one week had only
marched about forty miles. When they reached Gilbert Town, a week
after the battle, they were informed by a paroled officer, that he had seen
eleven patriots hung at Ninety Six a few days before, for being Rebels.
Similar cruel and unjustifiable acts had been committed before. In
the opinion of the patriots, it required retaliatory measures to put a stop
to these atrocities. A copy of the law of North Carolina was obtained,
which authorized two magistrates to summon a jury, and forthwith to try,
and if found guilty, to execute persons who had violated its precepts.
Under this law, thirty-six men were tried, and found guilty of breaking
open houses, killing the men, and turning the women and children out
of doors, and burning the houses. The trial was concluded late at night.
The execution of the law was as summary as the trial. Three men were
hung at a time, until nine were hung. Three more were tied ready to
be swung off. Shelby interfered, and proposed to stop it. The other
officers agreed, and the three men who supposed they had seen their
last hour, were untied. One of them said to Shelby, "You have saved
my life, and I will tell you a secret. Tarleton will be here in the
morning. A woman has brought the news."

Itwas then two o'clock at night, but no time was to be lost; the camp
was instantly aroused, everything packed up, the wounded sent into
secret hiding places in the mountains, and the line of march taken up.

The next day it rained incessantly, but the army continued its march
without stopping, until they crossed the Catawba at two o'clock the suc-
ceeding night. The river was breast high when they crossed it. The
weary troops bivouacked on its banks, and the next morning it had risen
so much as to be past fording. This obstacle being such as to prevent
all pursuit, they leisurely retired with their prisoners. As an evidence
of the hardships undergone by these brave and hardy patriots, Col.
Shelby says, that he ate nothing from Saturday morning until after they
encamped Sunday night at two o'clock, A. M.

The information given Shelby by the condemned prisoners, turned
out to have been substantially correct. Lord Cornwallis had detached
Tarleton to pursue and attack the patriots, and to rescue the prisoners.
Soon after Tarleton was dispatched, the former took an old Whig pris-
oner, and examined him. He told the prisoner he could not learn who
had defeated Ferguson. The old man told him. Cornwallis then

APPENDIX. 545

inquired the force of the patriots. He told him it was three thousand
riflemen. Cornwallis asked where they were gone. He replied, they
were bearing down on him. Whether this was told under the belief
that it was true, or told as a ruse de guerre, it answered a very
excellent purpose. Lords Cornwallis and Rawdon immediately con-
sulted together, beat to arms, struck their tents burnt some extra cloth-
ing, and retreated to the south side of Broad river in confusion. At the
same time, a messenger was sent to recall Tarleton, who was overtaken
after he had proceeded eighteen miles, and who immediately returned
to Cornwallis' camp.

At the time Shelby and his co-patriots raised their force, Cornwallis,
supposing he would meet no further serious resistance in North or
South Carolina, had projected the invasion of Virginia in three columns.
He was to advance in the centre, a second detachment was to march on
his right, and Ferguson was to command the left wing. The time for
the invasion was fixed, officers were out through the country collecting
the Tories, and a few days more would have made them very strong.
The defeat of Ferguson prevented this invasion, and so intimidated the
Tories, that most of them declined joining the British, generally prefer-
ring to make a profession of faith to King George rather than take up
arms in his behalf.

At the time the nine hundred and ten men were selected to pursue
Ferguson, they were informed that there were six hundred Tories em-
bodied near them, and it was suggested that they should be attacked.
Shelby opposed this, saying that if they turned after any other object
they would lose Ferguson.

After the battle at King's Mountain, this force, like all other partisan
bodies called out for a particular emergency, was difficult to be kept em-
bodied. The men one after another returned home, so that when they
reached the Catawba there were not more men than prisoners.

It is impossible for those who have not lived in its midst, to conceive
of the exasperation which prevails in a civil war. The execution, there-
fore, of the nine Tories at Gilbert Town, will by many persons be con-
sidered an act of retaliation unnecessarily cruel. It was believed by
those who were on the ground, to be both necessary and proper, for the
purpose of putting a stop to the execution of the patriots in the Carolinas
by the Tories and British. The event proved the justice of the expec-
tation of the patriots. The execution of the Tories did stop the execu-
tion of the Whigs. And it may be remarked of this cruel and lamenta-
ble mode of retaliation, that whatever excuses and pretences the Tories
may have had for their atrocities, the British officers, who often ordered
the execution of Whigs, had none. Their training to arms and military
education, should have prevented them from violating the rules of civ-
ilized warfare in so essential a point.

546 GRAHAM'S A CCOUNT.

Those patriots who desired to continue in the service after the battle
at King's Mountain, especially the refugees, wished to be formed into a
corps and to be under the command of Gen. Morgan. To effect this
Col. Shelby went to head-quarters and saw Morgan, who said they were
just the men he wanted. Gen. Gates consented, and the Board of War
of North Carolina ordered out these militia, who marched up and joined
Morgan ; most of them were with him the next campaign, and proved
the stuff they were made of at the nobly-won battle of the Cowpens.

BATTLE OF KING'S MOUNTAN.— BY GEN. JOSEPH GRAHAM.

After the defeat of Gen. Gates and the army under his command, on
the 16th of August, 1780, and the defeat of Gen. Sumter, two days after-
wards, near Rocky Mount, by Col. Tarleton, the South was almost entirely
abandoned to the enemy. Most of the troops, both officers and men,
who had escaped from Gates' defeat, passed through Charlotte, N. C,
where most of the militia of Mecklenburg County, were assembled in
consequence of the alarm. The regular troops chiefly passed on to
Hillsboro', where Gen. Gates finally established his head-quarters.
William L. Davidson, who had served as Lieutenant-Colonel of the
regulars in the Northern army, was appointed Brigadier-General of the
militia in the Salisbury District, in the place of Gen. Rutherford, who
was taken prisoner at Gates' defeat. He formed a brigade, and
encamped on McAlpin's creek, about eight miles below Charlotte, and
in the course of two or three weeks was reinforced by Gen. Sumner, a
Continental officer, but having no regulars to command, he took com-
mand of the militia from the counties of Guilford, Caswell, Orange, &c.

After Gates' defeat, the attention of Lord Cornwailis was chiefly
occupied with burying the dead, taking care of the wounded, and for-
warding, under suitable guards, the great number of prisoners he had
taken, to the city of Charleston, and regulating the civil government he
was establishing in South Carolina, and examining the state of the posts
occupied by his troops on the Congaree, Ninety Six and Augusta. By the
1st of September, he had his arrangements made, and detached Col.
Ferguson over the Wateree with only one hundred and ten regulars,
under the command of Capt. DePeyster, and about the same number of
Tories, but with an ample supply of arms and other military stores. His

*Gen. Graham was in the hospital at the time the battle was fought, and gained his
knowledge of the action from those who participated in it. He subsequently visited the
battle ground with a son of one of the officers. He errs as to the position occupied by Col.
Shelby which, according to his own statement, was on the left center, or north-west side
of the mountain. The number executed is over-stated This paper first appeared in the
Southern Literary Messenger, for September, 1845 , and was afterwards copied into Foote's
Sketches of North Carolina, and the North Carolina University Magazine for April, 1856.

APPENDIX. 547

movements were at first rapid, endeavoring to intercept the retreat of a
party of mountain men, who were harassing the upper settlement of
Tories in South Carolina. Failing in this, he afterwards moved slowly,
and frequently halted to collect all the Tories he could persuade to join
him. He passed Broad river, and before the last of September en-
camped at a place called Gilbert Town, within a short distance of where
the thriving village of Rutherfordton now stands.

His forces had increased to upwards of one thousand men. On his
march to this place, he had furnished arms to such of his new recruits
as were without them. The greater part of them had rifles, but to a part
of them he had them to fix a large knife they usually carried, made small
enough at the butt end for two inches or more of the handle to slip into
the muzzle of the rifle, so that it might be occasionally used as a bayonet.

Although Col. Ferguson failed to overtake the detachment of moun-
tain men alluded to, he took two of them prisoners, who had become
separated from their comrades. In a day or two, he paroled them, and en-
joined them to inform the officers on the western waters, that if they did
not desist from their opposition to the British arms, and take protection,
under his standard, that he would march his army over the moun-
tains, hang their leaders, and lay the country waste with fire and sword.

Col. Charles McDowell, of Burke County, on the approach of Fergu-
son with so large a force, had gone over the mountains to obtain assistance,
and was in consulation with Col. John Sevier and Col. Isaac Shelby what
plan should be pursued, when the two paroled men spoken of arrived,
and delivered their message from Col. Ferguson.

It was decided that each of them should use his best efforts to raise
all the men that could be enlisted, and that their forces when collected,
should meet on the Watauga, on the 25th of September. It was also
agreed, that Col. Shelby should give intelligence of their movements to
Col. William Campbell of the adjoining County of Washingion, in Vir-
gina, with the hope that he would raise what force he could, and cooperate
with them.

They met on the Watauga the day appointed, and passed the moun-
tain on the 30th of Sept., where they were joined by Col. Benjamin
Cleveland and Maj. Joseph Winston, from Wilkes and Surry Counties.

On examining their forces, they were found to number as follows :
From Washington County, Virginia, under Col. W. Campbell, 400

From Sullivan County, North Carolina, under Col. Isaac Shelby, 240
From Washington, North Carolina, under Col. John Sevier, 240

From Burke and Rutherford Counties, N. C, under Col. Charles

McDowell, 160

From Wilkes and Surry Counties, North Carolina, under Col.

Benj. Cleveland and Major Joseph Winston, 350

Total, i,39°

548 GRAHAM'S A CCO UNT.

Col. Ferguson having accurate intelligence of the force collecting
against him, early on the fourth of October, ordered his men to march,
and remained half an hour after they had started writing a dispatch to Lord
Cornwallis, no doubt informing him of his situation, and soliciting aid.
The letter was committed to the care of the noted Abraham Collins,
(since of counterfeit memory,) and another person, by the name of Quin,
with injunctions to deliver it as soon as possible. They set out, and
attempted to pass the direct road to Charlotte, but having to pass
through some Whig settlements, they were suspected and pursued, and
being compelled to secrete themselves by day, and travel by night, they
did not reach Charlotte until the morning of the 7th of October (the
day of the battle). Col. Ferguson encamped the first night at the
noted place called the Cowpens, about twenty miles from Gilbert Town.
On the 5th of October, he crossed Broad River at what is now called
Deer's Ferry, sixteen miles. On the 6th he marched up the Ridge Road,
between the waters of King's and Buffalo creeks, until he came to
the fork turning to the right, across King's creek, and through a gap of
the mountain towards Yorkville, about fourteen miles. Then he en-
camped on the summit of that part of the mountain to the right of the
road, where he remained until he was attacked on the 7th.

When the troops from the different Counties met, at the head of the
Catawba river, the commanding officers met, and finding that they
were all of equal grade, and no general officer to command, it was
decided that Col. Charles McDowell should go to Head-Quarters, sup-
posed to be between Charlotte and Salisbury, to obtain Gen. Sumner or
Gen. Davidson to take the command. In the meantime, it was agreed
that Col. William Campbell, who had the largest regiment, should take
the command until the arrival of a general officer, who was to act
according to the advice of the Colonels commanding, and that Maj. Joseph
McDowell should take the command of the Burke and Rutherford regi-
ment, until the return of Col. McDowell.

Shortly after these measures were adopted, intelligence was received
that Col. Ferguson had left Gilbert Town, and it was decided that they
would march after him. by that place, and on their way received evidence
that it was his design to evade an engagement with them. On the
evening of the 6th [4th] of October, the Colonels in council unanimously
resolved, that they would select all the men and horses fit for service, and
immediately pursue Ferguson until they should overtake him, leaving
such as were not able to go, to come after as fast as they could. The
next evening the selection was made, and nine hundred and ten men,
including officers, were marched before, leaving the others to follow.

They came to the Cowpens, where Ferguson had camped on the
night of the 4th, and there met Col. Williams, of South Carolina, with
near four hundred men, and about sixty from Lincoln County, who had

APPENDIX. 549

joined them on their march, under Col. Hambright and Maj. Chronicle
After drawing rations of beef, the whole proceeded on, a little before
sunset, taking Ferguson's trail towards Deer's Ferry, on Broad river.
Night coming on, and being very dark, their pilot got out of the right
way, and for some time they were lost ; but before daylight they reached
near to the ferry, and by direction of the officers, the pilot led them to the
Cherokee ford, about a mile and a half below, as it was not known but
the enemy might be in possession of the eastern bank of the river. It
was on the morning of the 7th before sunrise, when they crossed the
river, and marched about two miles to the place where Ferguson had
encamped on the night of the 5th.

There they halted a short time, and took such breakfast as their wal-
lets and saddle-bags could afford. The day was showery, and they were
obliged to use their blankets, and their great coats, to protect their arms
from wet. They passed on a dozen miles without seeing any person ;
at length, they met a lad, in an old field, by the name of Fonderin, about
twelve or fourteen years of age, who had a brother and other relations in
Ferguson's camp, and who was directly from it — within less than three
miles. A halt was ordered, and the Colonels met in consultation.
Several persons knew the ground well on which the enemy was encamped,
agreeable to the information given by the boy of their position. The
plan of battle was immediately settled, that the force should be
nearly equally divided, and one-half would take to the right, cross over
and occupy the south-east side of the mountain, and that the other
should advance to the north-west side, and that each division would
move forward until they formed a junction, when all should face to
the front, and press upon the enemy up the sides of the mountain.
Orders were given to prepare for battle, by laying aside every incum-
brance, examining well their arms, and guarding against alarm. The
orders were speedily obeyed, and they moved forward over King's
creek, and up a branch and ravine, and between two rocky knobs,
which, when they had passed, the top of the mountain and the enemy's
camp upon it, were in full view, about one hundred poles in front. Here
they halted, and tied their horses, leaving the necessary guard with them.
It was now three o'clock in the afternoon.

The enemy's camp was to the right of the road, seventy or eighty
poles in length, and on the summit of the mountain, which at this place
runs nearly north-east and south-west, the shadow of the timber at half-
past one P. M., ranges with it. The troops were led on in the following
order: — To the right, Maj. Winston, Col. Sevier, Col. Campbell, Col.
Shelby and Major McDowell— To the left, Col. Hambright, Col. Cleve-
land, and Col. Williams, of South Carolina.

Each division moved off steadily to the place assigned it in the order
of battle. Some of the regiments suffered much under the galling fire

550 GRAHAM'S A CCO UNT.

of the enemy, before they were in a position to engage in the action.
Some complaints began to be uttered, that it would never do to be shot
down without returning the fire. Col. Shelby replied — "press on to your
places, and then your fire will not be lost."

The men led by Shelby and McDowell were soon closely engaged,
and the contest from the first was very severe. Williams and Cleveland
were soon in their places, and with the utmost energy engaged the foe.
Ferguson finding that the end of his line was giving away, ordered for-
ward his regulars and riflemen with bayonets, and made a furious
charge upon Shelby and McDowell, charging down the mountain some
two hundred yards. A united and destructive fire soon compelled him
to order his party back to the top of the mountain to ward off the deadly
attack from Col. Williams. Ferguson again charged with fury down
the mountain. When Shelby's men saw this, they raised the cry, "come
on, men, the enemy is retreating." They rallied by the time Ferguson
returned from the charge against the South Carolinans, and renewed
their fire with great resolution. Ferguson again charged upon Shelby,
but not so far as before. Col. Williams' men, in turn, called out, "the
enemy is retreating, come on, men !"

At this stage of the action, Hambright and Winston had met, and a
brisk fire was poured upon Ferguson's men all around the mountain.
As he would advance towards Campbell, Sevier, Winston, and Ham-
bright, he was pursued by Shelby, McDowell, Williams and Cleveland.
When he would turn his forces against the latter, the former would press
on in pursuit. Thus he struggled on, making charges and retreats, but
his left was rapidly losing ground. His men were rapidly falling before
the skillful aim, and unbending courage, of the Whigs. Even after being
wounded, he fought on with courage. He made every effort that could
be done by a brave and skillful officer, according to his position. At
length he was shot dead, and his whole command driven up into a
group of sixty yards in length, and not forty in width.

The British officer, Capt. DePeyster, who took the command, ordered
a white flag to be raised, in token of surrender, but the bearer was in-
stantly shot down. He soon had another raised, and called out for
quarter. Col. Shelby demanded, if they surrendered, why they did not
throw down their arms ? This was instantly done. But still the firing
was continued, until Shelby and Sevier went inside the lines, and or-
dered the men to cease. Some who kept it up, would call out, "give
them Buford's play"— alluding to Col. Buford's defeat by Tarleton,
where no quarters were given. A guard was placed over the prisoners,
and all remained on the mountain during the night.

The party which led the left wing under Col. Hambright, suffered
very much, having to pass very difficult ground to reach their place of
destination, and within eighty yards of the enemy's marksmen. Col.

APPENDIX. 551

Hambright was wounded, and Maj. Chronicle was killed. Col. Wil-
liams, of South Carolina, a brave and efficient officer, was also killed-
The loss of the Whigs was not exactly ascertained, but believed to be
about thirty killed, and fifty wounded. The enemy had about one hun-
dred and fifty Willed, and all the rest taken prisoners. 0n the morning
of the 8th [14th], a court-martial was held, several of the prisoners who
were found guilty of murder, and other high crimes, were sentenced to
be hanged. About twenty [nine only] were executed.

[From Wheeler's History of North Carolina^

[An account of the Battle of Kings Mountain, prepared by Gen.

William Lenoir for Judge A. D. Murphy's intended

History of North Carolina^

Having lately seen in the State Gazette, a publication of Mr. Walker's
circular letter, in which there is a very imperfect statement of the battle
at King's Mountain, brings to my recollection your request for a true
account thereof; and having previously observed, that in all the histories
of the Revolutionary war that I have seen, the accounts of that battle are
very erroneous, induces me to attempt to fulfill your desire on that sub-
ject, by giving you as perfect an account of that transaction from my
own knowledge, as my memory at so distant a period will enable me to
do.

When a report was circulated that a detachment of the British army
had advanced through the State of South Carolina, and a part of North
Carolina, as far as Cane creek, where a strong party of them were
repulsed by the neighboring militia, chiefly of Burke County, under the
command of Col. Chas. McDowell, and Maj. J. McDowell, the active
Whigs of the western part of North Carolina, and some from the near
part of Virginia, like patriots at a moment's notice, without any call from
the Government, turned out and concentrated in Burke County, without
any aid from public stores, of clothing, arms, ammunition, or any article
of camp equipage, not having a single tent or baggage wagon amongst
them, and advanced to Green river, near the southern limit of Ruther-
ford County, where they received some further but imperfect information
of the progress of the aforesaid detachment of the British army, com-
manded by the celebrated Col. Ferguson, who was said to be progressing
through the country in various directions, committing great ravages and
depredations.

A council was held by the principal officers of the Whigs ; the result
of which was, that, on presumption that, through the medium of the

552 LENOIR '5 STA TEMENT.

Tories, Col. Ferguson had daily information of the advancement of the
Whigs, and was so on the alert, that men on foot would not be able to
overtake him, therefore orders were given for as many as had, or could
procure, horses, to go in advance as mounted infantry, there not being a
single dragoon in the Whig army. Whereupon, about five or six
hundred were prepared and marched off about sunrise on the 6th
day of October, 1780, leaving the footmen, about one thousand five hun-
dred in number, encamped on Green river, under the command of Maj.
Joseph Herndon. The advance party of mounted infantry being joined
by Col. Williams, with a few South Carolina militia, in the evening
arrived at a place called the Cowpens, in South Carolina, where two
beeves were killed, and orders given for the men to cook and eat as
quick as possible ; but marching orders were given before those that were
indolent had prepared anvthing to eat ; and they marched all night (being
dark and rainy), and crossed Broad river the next morning, where an
attack was expected. But not finding the enemy, the detachment almost
exhausted by fatigue, hunger, cold and wet, and, for want of sleep,
pursued their march a few miles, when they met two men from Col.
Ferguson's camp, who gave some account of his situation. Then being
revived by the hopes of gaining the desired object, the officers held a
short consultation — sitting on their horses — in which it was concluded
that said detachment should be formed into four columns; two of the
columns should march on each side of the road, as silently as they could,
and that they should govern their march by the view of each other ; Col.
Winston was placed at the head of the right hand column ; Col. Cleve-
land at the head of the left ; and Cols. Shelby and Sevier at the heads of
the two middle columns; and as Col. Campbell had come the greatest
distance, and from the State of Virginia, he was complimented with the
command of the whole detachment.

When they had marched in that order about a mile, Col. Winston,
by a steep hill, had got so far separated from the other columns as to be
out of sight or hearing of them, when some men rode in sight and di-
rected him to dismount, and march up the hill, which was immediately
done, with an expectation of meeting the enemy on the hill ; but before
his men had advanced two hundred paces from their horses, they were
again hailed, and directed to mount their horses and push on, and that
the enemy was a mile ahead. On which they ran with great precipitation
down to their horses, mounted them, and rode like fox hunters, as fast as
their horses could run, through rough woods, crossing branches and
ridges without any person that had any knowledge of the woods to direct
or guide them. They happened to fall in upon the left of the enemy,
the place of their destination. At this very moment the firing began on
the other parts of the lines, when all dismounted under the fire of the
enemy, and the right and left hand columns surrounded them as quick

APPENDIX. 553

as possible. In the meantime, the enemy charged bayonets on the two
middle columns, who being armed with rifles, and not a single bayonet
amongst them, were twice obliged to retreat a small distance ; but they
wheeled again with increased vigor, and fought bravely. The enemy
being surrounded, their left wing began to retreat, by drawing up in
closer order towards their right. At length they hoisted a flag and sur-
rendered themselves prisoners of war ; not a single man of them escaped
that was in camp at the commencement of the battle.

After the arms and prisoners were secured, some men were appointed
to number the dead. They reported two hundred and fifty of the
enemy ; and thirty-two of the Whigs. There were not near so many of
the enemy wounded as were of the Whigs, about forty of whom after-
wards died of their wounds. The total number of the Whigs in the
battle was between six and seven hundred ; and the number of the
enemy, agreeable to their daily returns, was eleven hundred and eighty-
seven. The Whigs camped on the battle-ground, and marched off with
their prisoners the next day ; and, having no other way to secure the
arms taken, compelled the prisoners to carry them, a great number of
them having to carry two guns each. About sunset we met the footmen
they had left at Green river, who had provided a plenty of rations, &c.
The Whigs who had fought the battle were almost famished.

A few days afterwards, in Rutherford County, the principal officers
held a court-martial over some of the most audacious and murderous
Tories, and selected thirty-two as victims for destruction ; and commenced
hanging three at a time until they hung nine, and respited the rest.

Col. Ferguson had placed himself on the top of King's Mountain
the morning before the battle; in a boasting manner he had proclaimed
that here was King's Mountain, and that he was the King of that Mount-
ain, supposing it to be a very advantageous position for him ; but it proved
the reverse, from the manner he was attacked and surrounded. His ele-
vated situation secured the Whigs from the danger of their own fire from
the opposite side, and he, being surrounded, when his men sheltered them-
selves on one side, they were exposed to danger on the other. Col.
Ferguson had seven or eight bullets shot through him, and fell some
time before the battle was over. The number of the Whigs was so inferior,
that Col. Ferguson, or his successor in command, might have easily re-
treated with very inconsiderable loss ; if they had known the number
and situation of the Whigs, no doubt but they would have retreated in-
stead of surrendering.

It appears that under the auspices of the same Divine Power that so
advantageously conducted the right hand column of the Whigs to the
battle at King's Mountain, from that period good fortune seemed to pre-
ponderate in every direction in favor of the common cause of liberty —
except the single instance of Gen. Gates, who was [previously] defeated

554 LENOIR %S STA TEMENT.

by his own imprudence ; for although the British army kept the battle-
ground at Guilford Court-House, it appears to be given up on both sides,
that the Americans had the best of that battle, and disabled their enemy.
And to contrast the situation of the Whigs after the battle of King's
Mountain, with what inevitably would have been their situation in case
Ferguson's army had gained as complete a victory over the Whigs, as
the Whigs had done over them, it must appear that said battle was the
most decisive, the most gloriously fought, and although few in number,
was of the greatest importance of any one battle that ever was fought in
America. * * * *

I was Captain of a company of footmen, and left them at Green
river, except six of them, who procured horses and went with us. I
went as a common soldier, and did not pretend to take command of
those that belonged to rny company; neither did I join any other com-
pany ; but fell in immediately behind Col. Winston, in front of the right
hand column, which enables me to give a more particular account of
the progress of that part of our army than any other. Before the battle,
Adjutant Jesse Franklin, now Governor of North Carolina, Capt. Robt.
Cleveland, and myself, agreed to stand together and support each other ;
but at the commencement of the battle, enthusiastic zeal caused us all to
separate. Each being anxious to effect the grand object, no one ap-
peared to regard his own personal safety. As to my own part, from
where we dismounted, instead of going on to surround, I advanced the
nearest way towards the enemy, under a heavy fire, until I got within
about thirty paces. Before they began to give ground, being among
strangers, I noticed one particular instance of bravery. On hearing a
man within six feet behind me fall, I looked around, and at that instant
another soldier jumped at him saying. "Give me your shot-bag, old fel-
low !" his own ammunition being exhausted. The gallant patriot gave
him, with his dying, hand his ammunition. Aboutthat time, I received a
slight wound in my side, and another in my left arm ; and, after that,
a bullet went through my hair about where it was tied, and my clothes
were cut in several places. From the account I have given of the battle,
it will be understood that it was fought on our side by militia alone. By
that victory, many militia officers procured swords who could not possi-
bly get any before ; neither was it possible to procure a good supply of
ammunition.

[From the American Pioneer, Feb. 1843.]

BATTLE OF KING'S MOUNTAIN.

By Benjamin Sharp.

4s well as I can remember, some time in August, in the year 1780,

APPENDIX. 555

Col. McDowell, of North Carolina, with three or four hundred men, fled
over the mountains to the settlements of Holston and Watauga, to evade
the pursuit of a British officer by the name of Ferguson, who had the
command of a large detachment of British and Tories. Our militia
speedily embodied, all mounted on horses — the Virginians under the
command of Col. William Campbell, and the two western counties of
North Carolina, now Tennessee, under Cols. Isaac Shelby and John
Sevier; and as soon as they joined McDowell, he re-crossed the moun-
tains, and formed a junction with Col. Cleveland, with a fine regiment
of North Carolina militia. We were now fifteen or eighteen hundred
strong, and considered ourselves equal in numbers, or at least a match
for the enemy, and eager to bring them to battle ; but Col. McDowell,
who had the command, appeared to think otherwise, for although Fer-
guson had retreated on our crossing the mountains, he kept us marching
and counter-marching, for eight or ten days without advancing a step
towards our object. At length a council of the field-officers was con-
vened, and it was said in camp, how true I will not pretend to say, that
he refused in council to proceed without a general officer to command
the army, and to get rid of him, the council deputed him to Gen. Greene,
at Head-Quarters, to procure a General. Be this as it may, as soon as
the council rose, Col. McDowell left the camp, and we saw no more of
him during the expedition.

As soon as he was fairly gone, the council re-assembled, and ap-
pointed Col. William Campbell our commander, and within one hour
after, we were on our horses and in full pursuit of the enemy. The
British still continued to retreat, and after hard marching for some time,
we found our progress much retarded by our footmen and weak horses
that were not able to sustain the duty. It was then resolved to leave the
footmen and weak horses under the command of Capt. William Neil, of
Virginia, with instructions to follow as fast as his detachment could bear.
Thus disencumbered, we gained fast upon the enemy. I think on the
7th [6th] day of October, in the afternoon, we halted at a place called
the Cowpens, in South Carolina, fed our horses, and ate a hasty meal
of such provisions as we had procured, and, by dark mounted our
horses, and after marching all night, crossed Broad river by the dawn of
day; and although it rained considerably in the morning, we never
halted to refresh ourselves or horses. About twelve o'clock it cleared
off with a fine cool breeze. We were joined that day [really, the night
before] by Col. Williams, of South Carolina, with several hundred men ;
and in the afternoon fell in with three men who informed us that they
were just from the British camp, that they were posted on the top of
King's Mountain, and that there was a picket-guard on the road not far
ahead of us. These men were detained lest they should find means to
inform the enemy of our approach, and Col. Shelby, with a select party,

556 SHARP'S NARRA TIVE.

undertook to surprise and take the picket ; this he accomplished without
firing a gun or giving the least alarm, and it was hailed by the army
as a good omen.

We then moved on, and as we approached the mountain, the roll of
the British drum informed us that we had something to do. No doubt
the British commander thought his position a strong one ; but our plan
of attack was such as to make it the worst for him he could have chosen.
The end of the mountain to our left descended gradually to a branch;
in front of us the ascent was rather abrupt, and to the right was a low
gap through which the road passed. The different regiments were
directed by guides to the ground they were to occupy, so as to surround
the eminence on which the British were encamped ; Campbell's on the
right, along the road; Shelby's next, to the left of him; Sevier's next,
and so on, till last the left of Cleveland's to join the right of Campbell's,
on the other side of the mountain, at the road.

Thus the British Major found himself attacked on all sides at once,
and so situated as to receive a galling fire from all parts of our lines
without doing any injury to ourselves. From this difficulty, he attempted
to relieve himself at the point of the bayonet, but failed in three suc-
cessive charges. Cleveland, who had the farthest to go, being bothered
in some swampy ground, did not occupy his position in the line till late
in the engagement. A few men, drawn from the right of Campbell's
regiment, occupied this vacancy ; this the British commander discovered,
and here he made his last powerful effort to force his way through and
make his escape; but at that instant Cleveland's regiment came up in
gallant style ; the Colonel, himself, coming by the very spot I occupied,
at which time his horse had received two wounds, and he was obliged to
dismount. Although fat and unweildy, he advanced on foot with signal
bravery ; but was soon re-mounted by one of his officers, who brought
him another horse. This threw the British and Tories into complete
disorder, and Ferguson seeing that all was lost, determined not to sur-
vive the disgrace ; he broke his sword, and spurred his horse into the
thickest of our ranks, and fell covered with wounds, and shortly after
his whole army surrendered at discretion. The action lasted about one
hour, and for most of the time was fierce and bloody.

I cannot clearly recollect the statement of our loss, given at the time,
but my impression now is that it was two hundred and twenty-five
killed, and about as many or a few more wounded; the loss of the
enemy must have been much greater. The return of the prisoners taken
was eleven hundred and thirty-three, about fifteen hundred stand of
arms, several baggage wagons, and all their camp equipage fell into
our hands. The battle closed not far from sundown, so that we had to
encamp on the ground, with the dead and wounded, and pass the night
among groans and lamentations.

APPENDIX. 557

The next day, as soon as we could bury our dead, and provide litters
to carry our wounded, we marched off to regain the upper country for
fear of being intercepted by a detachment from the army of Lord Corn-
wallis, for we were partly behind his quarters, between him and the
British garrison of Ninety Six. A British surgeon, with some assistants,
were left to attend their wounded ; but the wounded Tories were un-
provided for, and their dead left for their bones to bleach upon the
mountain. That afternoon we met Capt. Neil coming on with his de-
tachment, and encamped for the night on a large deserted Tory plan-
tation, where was a sweet potato patch sufficiently large to supply the
whole army. This was most fortunate, for not one in fifty of us had
tasted food for the last two days and nights, that is, since we left the
Cowpens. Here, the next morning, we buried Col. Williams, who had
died of his wounds on the march the day before. We still proceeded
towards the mountains as fast as our prisoners could bear.

When we had gained a position, where we thought ourselves secure
from a pursuit, the army halted for a day, and a court was detailed to
inquire into various complaints against certain Tories for murders, rob-
beries, house-burnings, &c. The court found upwards of forty of them
guilty of the crimes charged upon them, and sentenced them to hang ;
and nine of the most atrocious offenders were executed that night by
fire-light, the rest were reprieved by the commanding officer.

We set off early next morning, and shortly after the rain began to
fall in torrents, and continued the whole day, but, instead of halting, we
rather mended our pace in order to cross the Catawba river before it
should rise and intercept us ; this we effected late in the night, and
halted by a large plantation, when Major McDowell — brother of the
Colonel, and who commanded his brother's regiment the whole route,
and was a brave and efficient officer — rode along the lines, and informed
us that the plantation belonged to him, and kindly invited us to take
rails from his fences, and make fires to warm and dry us, I suppose
every one felt grateful for this generous offer, for it was rather cold,
being the last of October, and every one, from the Commander-in-Chief to
the meanest private, was as wet as if he had just been dragged through
the Catawba river. We rested here one day, and then proceeded, by
easy marches, to the heads of the Yadkin river, where we were relieved
by the militia of the country, and permitted to return home, which those
of us who had not fallen in battle or died of wounds, effected some
time in November.

During the whole of this expedition, except a few days at the outset,
I neither tasted bread nor salt, and this was the case with nearly every
man ; when we could get meat, which was but seldom, we had to roast
and eat it without either: sometimes we got a few potatoes, but out
standing and principal rations were ears of corn, scorched in the fire

558 NARRATOR'S VERSION.

or eaten raw. Such was the price paid by the men of the Revolution
for our Independence.

Here I might conclude, but I cannot forbear offering a small tribute
to the memory of our commanding officers. Coi. Williams, fell; Cleve-
land, I have already spoken of; Sevier, I did not see in the battle, but
his bravery was well attested ; three times my eye fell upon our gallant
commander, [Campbell] calm and collected, encouraging the men, and
assuring them of victory. At the close of the action, when the British
were loudly calling for quarters, but uncertain whether they would be
granted, I saw the intrepid Shelby rush his horse within fifteen paces of
their lines, and commanded them to lay down their arms, and they
should have quarters. Some would call this an imprudent act, but it
showed the daring bravery of the man. I am led to believe that three
braver men, and purer patriots, never trod the soil of freedom, than
Campbell, Shelby and Sevier.

[" Narrator" in Kentucky Reporter, July 25th, 1812.]

Col. Shelby, in concert with Col. John Sevier, meditated and carried
into execution the expedition against Ferguson, who, thinking himself
secure, had permitted some of his Tories to go home. By forced
marches, with nine hundred and ten men, they attacked Ferguson on
King's Mountain, and killed and took eleven hundred and five men.
The honor of the enterprise has been given Col. Campbell most unde-
servedly. There were six officers along who were entitled to command
Col. Campbell by their rank ; and Col. Shelby who was one of those six,
deserves the nation's thanks for the manner in which he conducted him-
self at that critical juncture. In the camp, everything was confused for
want of a commanding officer. Those who were entitled to command
were very unpopular, and I am well informed that had it been left to an
election, Shelby would have been elected ; but he was not the eldest
officer, and he was aware, that should he contend for the command, the
jealousy and offended pride of the others might defeat the expedition. He
had more at heart the interest of his darling country than the promotion ;
and to do away all jealousy among equals, he himself proposed a meeting
be held for the purpose of an arrangement, that they should jointly every
evening provide an order for the government of camp, and that Col.
Campbell should be the officer of the day to see that complied with.

This affair being arranged, the army moved on and made a forced
march, as it was all important to them to overtake Ferguson before the
disbanded Tories could rendezvous and join him. From Friday morn-
ing until Saturday evening the little host of soldiers scarcely tarried a
moment, and late on that evening coming up with the enemy, the at-

APPENDIX. 559

tack was commenced. Col. Campbell was not in this action except in
the first onset. To Shelby the enemy surrendered — Shelby was the
first man who spoke to them — was the first man among them, and the
fire on the opposite side of the mountain did not cease, as they did not
know of the surrender, until Shelby, who, was actually among the Brit-
ish, ordered them to sit down. The American fire instantly ceased, and
was succeeded by the huzzas of triumph. Campbell, hearing them,
came up about twenty minutes afterward, and observed to Shelby,
"that he could not account for his own conduct in the latter part of the
action."

COL. SHELBY'S LETTERS TO GOV. SEVIER.

July 1st, 1822, Col. G. W. Sevier, caused to be published in the
Nashville Gazette four letters written by Col. Shelby to his father,
Gov. Sevier, three of which, in part, touched upon King's Mountain and
Col. Campbell. Those parts follow :

The Legislature of Virginia, shortly after the defeat of Ferguson,
upon King's Mountain, in 1780, voted an elegant horse and sword to be
presented to Col. William Campbell, as a testimony of approbation
which his country bore towards him on account of the part that he had
taken in that memorable affair. The horse was delivered to him ; but
owing to neglect, or some other cause, the sword was not presented to
him before he died. I am lately informed that the friends of Col.
Campbell, not long since, have made application to the Legislature of
that State for the sword — that they voted the sum of one thousand, five
hundred crowns for the purchase of the most elegant sword that could
be procured in France ; and through our Minister in Paris, a most superb
sword was obtained, which was presented by the Government of Virginia
to young John Preston *, the grandson of Col. Campbell, as an honorable
reward due to the memory of his ancestor.

Now, sir, what did Campbell merit more than you or I did ? It is
a fact well known, and for which he apologized to me the day after the
action, that he was not within less than one quarter of a mile of the ene-
my at the time they surrendered to you and myself. But I do not mean
to detract from the honors of the dead, yet it is a fact I have told to
many, both before and since his death. — January 1st, 1810.

At the time I wrote to you on this subject, I had but just heard of the
fine sword given by the State of Virginia to a descendant of the late Col.
Campbell, and for a moment I felt a degree of indignation and resent-
ment, that my country had attributed the achievement of the victory on
King's Mountain to a man who had little share in the action, and it

<'Wm. C. Preston was probably the person referred to.

560 SHELBY'S PAMPHLET.

determined me to address a letter to you on the occasion. * * * It
may be fairly stated, that the great body of the men that crossed the
mountains on that expedition, were raised and embodied by your and my
own united exertions. It was an enterprise undertaken from pure and
patriotic motives, without the aid of the Govenment — at a time that tried
the souls of men. It was, in its consequences, the salvation of North
Carolina, inasmuch as it obliged Lord Cornwallis to retreat out of the
State with the whole British army, and he could not advance until he
was reinforced from New York. Besides, in the great scale of our na-
tional affairs, it was the very first perceivable eve7it that gave a favora-
ble turn to the American Revolution. — February 24th, 1810.

I shall be elected Governor by a majority of at least ten thousand
votes. Among other falsehoods that were circulated against me, it was
said that I was not in the action at King's Mountain ; and by some, that
I was only a Lieutenant, or some inferior officer, on that expedition, and
this story had gained some credit among better informed people. The
object of this letter is, to request you to be so obliging as to state to me,
in a letter, as early as convenient, the station in which I commanded on
the expedition against Ferguson. You know that the expedition was
concerted by you and myself, and that it took some address to induce
Campbell and his men to join us. That in the action, I was in the heat
of the battle. I well recollect being once very near you as we went up
the mountain early in the action ; I saw you animating the men to vic-
tory, and feel persuaded you saw me also ; I was on horseback, near
you, using the same exertions. And you must also recollect, that I was
almost the first — and, I believe, the very first — officer that you met at
the surrender of the enemy. Your first words to me at the surrender
were — "By G — d, they have burnt off your hair." You must still recol-
lect that circumstance, that my hair on the left side was very much
scorched — this happened just before the surrender, when both parties
were almost promiscuously mingled together. — August 12th, 18 12.

[GOV. SHELBY'S PAMPHLET.]

BATTLE OF KING'S MOUNTAIN.

To the Public.

During the last year, Mr. Wm. C. Preston, a grandson of the late
Col. Wm. Campbell, made a publication in the newspapers, under his
signature, and headed "Colonel Campbell and Governor Shelby."
The professed object of this address, was to claim for his ancestor, as
commander of the American forces at the battle of King's Mountain
the chief honors of that victory, and to controvert some statements rela-

APPENDIX. 561

tive to that subject, made in some of my private letters to the late Gov.
Sevier, of Tennessee, which letters came to the knowledge of the
world, and of Mr. Preston, by the inadvertent publication of them by
the son of Gov. Sevier, after the death of his father. In the course of
his address, Mr. Preston has thought proper to question my veracity, —
to deny the statements made in those letters, and to impute to me the
most dishonorable motives and purposes.

I paused and hesitated long as to the course I ought to pursue.
Conscious of my integrity, I felt a proud confidence, that my reputation
could not be affected by the proofs and animadversions of Mr. Preston —
that it was placed above the reach of calumny and all attempts to
dishonor it. But the labored efforts that have been used, to give the
most extensive circulation and the most permanent effect to the publi-
cation of Mr. Preston, have determined me to reply to it, least by my
silence I might be considered as acquiescing in the justice of his asser-
tions and imputations.

It is with the most sincere and heartfelt regret that I undertake the
task ; because in the course of my defence it will be necessary for me
to speak of circumstances, which I had rather have seen consigned to
oblivion — circumstances calculated, in some degree, to effect the fame of
Col. Campbell ; and perhaps to wound the feelings of many of his
numerous and most respectable relatives and connections. But the
unexpected publication of my private letters to an old friend, and tha
attack consequently made on me by Mr. Preston, compel me to defend
myself; and painful and invidious as the task may be, I owe it to
myself, to my posterity and my country, to perform it. I could have
wished most earnestly to have been spared this development, but cir-
cumstances seem not to permit it.

If, in the course of this investigation, facts should be disclosed, in-
jurious to the fame of Col. Campbell, let it be remembered that I have
been forced into it by imperious necessity. Sacred as the memory of
Col. Campbell may be, it will be recollected, that I also have a
character and reputation which are dear to me, and which it is one of my
highest duties to maintain and defend. The history of my life has
never before been stained by an imputation of falsehood and dishonor.
I am now in my seventy-third year, and almost the only object of
wordly ambition that remains between me and the grave, is, that my mem-
ory may descend untarnished to my posterity and to my country — that
country which has appreciated my services, perhaps too highly, and with
a bountiful and generous hand heaped upon me rewards and honors far
beyond my poor deserving. But how must she blush at my name, and
the recollection of those honors which her mistaken gratitude has con-
fered upon me, if I am guilty of the falsehood and defamation, with
which Mr. Preston has charged me! I am not guilty, my countrymen,

562 SHELBY'S PAMPHLET.

and before any other tribunal than yours, I would have scorned to reply
to the unworthy accusations with which I am assailed.

To render the subject more intelligible and clear, and to show the
grounds upon which I have made the statements contained in my
private letters, I shall attempt to give some account of the battle of
King's Mountain, and the circumstances which led to it.

Upon the defeat of Gen. Gates and the American army at the battle
of Camden, on the 16th of August, 1780, the Southern States were
almost entirely abandoned to the enemy. The intelligence of that dis-
astrous affair, and the defeat of Gen, Sumter which soon followed, spread
universal consternation and alarm. All the bodies of militia that were
in arms through the country, were compelled to fly before the enemy.
Some of these detachments (part of which I commanded) fled towards
the mountains, and were hotly pursued by Major Ferguson, of the British
army, with a strong force. Failing in the attempt to intercept their
retreat, he took post at Gilbert Town. At that place he paroled a
prisoner, (one Samuel Philips, a distant connection of mine,) and in-
structed him to inform the officers on the Western waters, that if they
did not desist from their opposition to the British arms, and take
protection under his standard, he would march his army over the
mountains, hang their leaders, and lay their country waste with fire and
sword. Philips lived near my residence, and came directly to me
with this intelligence. I then commanded the militia of Sullivan County,
North Carolina. In a few days I went fifty or sixty miles to see Col.
Sevier, who was the efficient commander of Washington County, North
Carolina, to inform him of the message I had received, and to concert
with him measures for our defence. After some consultation, we de-
termined to march with all the men we could raise, and attempt to
surprise Ferguson, by attacking him in his camp, or at any rate before
he was prepared for us. We accordingly appointed a time and place of
rendezvous. It was known to us that some two or three hundred of the
militia who had been under the command of Col. McDowell, and were
driven by the success of the enemy from the lower country, were then
on the Western waters, and mostly in the County of Washington, North
Carolina. I saw some of their officers before we parted ; Col. Sevier
engaged to give notice to these refugees, and to bring them into our
measure. On my part, I undertook to procure the aid and co-operation
of Col. Wm. Campbell, of Washington County, Virginia, and the men
of that County, if practicable.

Having made the arrangements with Sevier, I returned home im-
mediately, and devoted myself to all the necessary operations for our
intended enterprise. I wrote to Col. Campbell, informing him what
Sevier and I had agreed on, and urged him to join us with all the men
he could raise. This letter I sent express to him at his own house, forty

APPENDIX. 563

miles distant, by my brother, Moses Shelby. Col. Campbell wrote me
for answer, that he had determined to raise what men he could, and
march down by Flower-Gap, to the Southern borders of Virginia, to
oppose Lord Cornwallis when he approached that State ; — that he still
preferred this course to the one proposed by Sevier and myself, and
therefore declined agreeing to meet us. Of this I notified Col. Sevier by
an express on the next day, and immediately issued an order calling upon
all the militia of the County to hold themselves in readiness to march
at the time appointed. I felt, however, some disappointment at the reply
of Col. Campbell. The Cherokee towns were not more than eighty or
one hundred miles from the frontiers of my County, and we had re-
ceived information that these Indians were preparing a formidable
attack upon us in the course of a few weeks; I was, therefore, unwilling
that we should take away the whole disposable force of our Counties at
such a time ; and without the aid of the militia under Col. Campbell's
command, I feared that we could not otherwise have a sufficient force to
meet Ferguson. I therefore wrote a second letter to Col. Campbell, and
sent the same messenger back with it immediately, to whom I commu-
nicated at large our view and intentions, and directed him to urge them
on Col. Campbell. This letter and messenger produced the desired
effect, and Campbell wrote me that he would meet us at the time and
place appointed. If Mr. Preston and his relations have been as careful
of these letters, as they have been of some others, and will publish them,
they will prove the correctness of this statement.

It surely cannot detract from the merits of Col. Campbell, that this
expedition was not set on foot by him, but by others. He lived in Vir-
ginia, in a state of comparative security, and was preparing to aid his
own State when she should be invaded. We lived in North Carolina, a
great part of which State was prostrate before the British arms. We
were nearer to the enemy, and we were threatened. We, therefore, deter-
mined to anticipate the invasion and vengeance meditated against us,
and to strike the first blow. To do this effectually, we asked for and re-
ceived the aid of the nearest County in a neighboring State. This was
surely the natural and ordinary course of things. The 25th day of Sep-
tember, 1780, at Watauga, where the time and place appointed for our
rendezvous, Col. Sevier had succeeded in engaging in our enterprise,
Col. Charles McDowell and many of the refugees before mentioned — and
when assembled our forces were as follows : Col. William Campbell with
four hundred men from Washington County, Virginia; Col. John Sevier
with two hundred and forty men from Washington County, North
Carolina; Col. Charles McDowell with one hundred and sixty men from
the Counties of Burke and Rutherford, who had fled before the enemy
to the Western waters ; and two hundred and forty men from Sullivan
County, North Carolina, under my command. On the next day, the

564 SHELB Y'S PAMPHLET,

26th of the month, we began our march, crossed the mountains, and, on
the 30th, were joined by Col. Benjamin Cleveland with three hundred
and fifty men from the Counties of Wilkes and Surry, North Carolina.

The little disorders and irregularities which began to prevail among
our undisciplined troops, created much uneasiness in the commanding
officers — the Colonels commanding regiments. "We met in the evening,
and consulted about our future operations. It was resolved to send to
Head-Quarters for a general officer to command us ; and that, in the mean-
time, we should meet in council every day to determine on the measures to
be pursued, and appoint one of our own body to put them in execution. I
was not satisfied with this course, as I thought it calculated to produce
delay, when expedition and dispatch were all important to us. We were
then in sixteen or eighteen miles of Gilbert Town, where we
supposed Ferguson to be. I suggested these things to the
council, and then observed to the officers, that we were all North
Carolinians except Col. Campbell, who was from Virginia ; that I knew
him to be a man of good sense, and warmly attached to the cause of his
country ; that he commanded the largest regiment ; and that if they con-
curred with me, we would, until a general officer should arrive from
Head-Quarters, appoint him to command us, and march immediately
against the enemy. To this proposition some one or two said, "agreed."
No written minute or record was made of it. I made the proposition to
silence the expectations of Col. McDowell to command us — he being the
commanding officer of the district we were then in, and had commanded
the armies of militia assembled in that quarter all the summer before
against the same enemy. He was a brave and patriotic man, but we
considered him too far advanced in life, and too inactive, for the command
of such an enterprise as we were then engaged in. I was sure he would
not serve under a younger officer from his own State, and hoped that his
feelings would in some degree be saved by the appointment of Col.
Campbell. In this way, and upon my suggestion, was Col. Camp-
bell raised to the command, and not on account of any superior military
talents or experience he was supposed to possess. He had no previous
acquaintance with any of the Colonels except myself, nor had he at that
time acquired any experience or distinction in war, that we knew of.
Col. McDowell, who had the good of his country more at heart than any
title of command, submitted to what was done ; but observed, that as he
could not be permitted to command, he would be the messen-
ger to go to Head-Quarters for the general officer. He accordingly
started immediately, leaving his men under his brother, Maj. Joseph
McDowell, and Col. Campbell assumed the chief command. He was,
however, to be regulated and directed by the determinations of the
Colonels, who were to meet in council every day.

On the morning after the appointment of Col. Campbell, we pro-

APPENDIX. 565

ceeded towards Gilbert Town, but found that Ferguson, apprised of our
approach, had left there a few days before. On the next night, it was
determined, in the council of officers, to pursue him unremittingly, with
as many of our troops as could be well armed and well mounted, leav-
ing the weak horses and footmen to follow on as fast as they could. We
accordingly started about light the next morning, with nine hundred and
ten men, thus selected. Continuing diligently our pursuit all that day,
we were joined at the Cowpens, on the 6th, by Col. James Williams, of
South Carolina, and several field officers, with about four hundred men.
Learning from him the situation and distance of the enemy, we traveled
all that night, and the next day, through heavy rains, and came up with
them about three o'clock in the afternoon of the 7th of October. They
were encamped on an eminence called Kings Mountain, extending
from east to west, which on its summit was about five or six hundred
yards long, and sixty or seventy broad. Our men were formed for bat-
tle as stated in the report of the action made out and signed by some
of the officers, and lately published by Mr. Preston. This report, how-
ever, omits to mention, that the men who had belonged to Col. McDow-
ell's command, which had been considerably augmented on the march,
formed a part of the right wing under Sevier. Col. Campbell's regi-
ment and my own, composed the centre — his on the right, and mine on
the left. The right wing or column, was led by Col. Sevier and Maj.
Winston ; the left by Cols. Cleveland and Williams; and each of these
wings was about as strong as Campbell's regiment and mine united.
Our plan was to surround the mountain and attack the enemy on all
sides.

In this order, and with this view, we marched immediately to the as-
sault. The attack was commenced by the two centre columns, which
attempted to ascend at the eastern end of the mountain. The battle
here became furious and bloody, and many that belonged to Sevier's
column were drawn into the action at this point, to sustain their com-
rades. In the course of the battle we were repeatedly repulsed by the
enemy, and driven down the mountain. In this succession of repulses
and attacks, and in giving succour to the points hardest pressed, much dis-
order took place in our ranks; the men of my column, of Campbell's
column, and great part of Sevier's, were mingled together in the confusion
of the battle. Towards the latter part of the action, the enemy made a fierce
and gallant charge upon us, from the eastern summit of the mountain,
and drove us near to the foot of it. The retreat was so rapid that there
was great danger of its becoming a rout. While I was attempting to
rally the men, at the distance of about two hundred yards from where the
scene of action had been, I looked down the mountain, and saw Col.
Campbell, sitting on his bald-face black horse, about two hundred yards
further off, apparently looking right at me. He was in the same trim —

566 SHELB VS PAMPHLET.

with his coat off — that he had put himself in to fight the battle. I stop-
ped my horse, and raised myself up in my stirrups, to show him that I
saw him. He did not move while I looked at him.

Our men were soon rallied and turned back upon the enemy, who in
a few minutes after we again came into close action with them, gave
way. We gained the eastern summit of the mountain and drove those
who had been opposed to us along the top of it, until they were forced
down the western end about one hundred yards, in a crowd, to where
the other part of their line had been contending with Cleveland and
Williams, who were maintaining their ground below them. It was here
that Ferguson, the British commander, was killed— and a white flag
was soon after hoisted by the enemy, in token of surrender. They were
ordered to throw down their arms ; which they did, and surrendered
themselves prisoners at discretion. It was some time before a complete
cessation of the firing, on our part, could be effected. Our men, who had
been scattered in the battle, were continually coming up, and continued
to fire, without comprehending in the heat of the moment, what had
happened ; and some, who had heard that at Buford's defeat the British
had refused quarters to many who asked it, were willing to "follow that
bad example. Owing to these causes, the ignorance of some, and the
disposition of others to retaliate, it required some time, and some exer-
tion on the part of the officers, to put an entire stop to the firing. After
the surrender of the enemy, our men gave spontaneously three loud
and long shouts.

It was not till fifteen or twenty minutes after the enemy hoisted the
flag of surrender, nor until some minutes after the shouts of our men had
a?mounced the victory, that I saw Col. Campbell, on the west point of the
mountain, with his light colored coat buttoned around him, coming down
on foot, with three others, (all of whom I knew) to where the prisoners
were. He came directly to me, and stood by my side; and after a short
space ordered the prisoners to sit down. He then proposed a second
cheer, which though joined in by many, was neither so general nor so
loud as the first.

Before Col. Campbell came up, the flag of the enemy, and the sword
of their commanding officer, DePeyster, had been received, not by me,
but by my brother, Maj. Evan Shelby.

About ten o'clock on the day after the battle, I was standing alone,
about forty yards south of the spot where Col. Campbell came to me
after the surrender, enjoying the warmth of the sun (for I had been very
wet the day before, and was exposed to the cold dew of the mountain all
night) when I saw Col. Campbell leave the line of guards that sur-
rounded the prisoners, and walked slowly towards me with his sword un-
der his arm, till he came near touching me. He then, in a lower tone
of voice than usual, and with a slight smile on his countenance, made

APPENDIX. 567

the following expression : "Sir, I can not account for my conduct in the
latter part of the action."

An enterprise so daring, and a victory so complete, were supposed to
entitle the officers who had conducted and achieved them, to some testi-
monials of their country's approbation. The Legislature of Virginia
voted to Col. Campbell a horse, sword and pistols ; and the Legislature
of North Carolina, at their next session, were pleased to distinguish the
services of Col. Sevier, myself and others, by voting to each of us a sword.

Such is the history of the battle of King's Mountain, and of the inci-
dents connected with it, so far as they relate to the present controversy.
Of those circumstances which relate to Col. Campbell personally, and
which might have a tendency to diminish his reputation, I have seldom
spoken, except in confidence, or to those who were previously acquainted
with them. I am sure that I may say, with perfect truth, that I have
never spoken of them in a spirit of detraction.

I have long ceased to be a citizen of North Carolina. The swords
voted by her had never yet been presented, although years had passed
away. Of the one which was voted to me, I had for a long time rarely
thought, until about the year 1810, when the prospects of approaching
hostilities with Great Britain naturally roused in me ancient feelings,
and recollections of our Revolutionary war ; and when also I learned
from a relation of Mr. Preston, that the State of Virginia had given to
him, as the representative of Col. Campbell, the elegant sword which
had been voted to the latter for his services at the battle of King's Moun-
tain. These circumstances, and the reflections to which they gave rise,
did produce some feelings of emulation and solicitude, and a sense that
equal justice had not been done to all who participated in that memorable
achievement.

In this state of mind, my letters bearing date in 1810, were addressed
to my old friend and fellow soldier, Col. Sevier. The object of them
was to concert with him the means of reminding North Carolina of her
ancient promise, and of obtaining those swords which thirty years be-
fore had been voted to us, as the honorable memorials of our good con-
duct, and our country's approbation. In the course of this correspond-
ence, after mentioning the magnanimous example which Virginia had
given to Carolina by the honors conferred on the memory of Col.
Campbell, I ventured to make some comparison of the services of
Sevier and myself with those of Col. Campbell. I stated in substance
that the enterprise which resulted in the battle at King's Mountain, was
not set on foot by CoL Campbell, but by Sevier and myself, and that
some address was necessary to induce him to unite with us. That the
greater part of the men who crossed the mountains on that occasion may
be fairly said to have been embodied by Sevier and myself; that Col.
Campbell was not present in the latter part of the action, nor when the

568 SHELB V'S PAMPHLET.

enemy surrendered, nor for some minutes after ; and that on the next
day he apologized to me for his conduct.

These statements are all true within my own knowledge. They are
more particularly explained and illustrated in the narrative which I
have given above of the battle, and the circumstances which led to it.
But Mr. Preston has denied them — has impeached my veracity, and im-
puted to me the vilest and most dishonorable motives. It is yet in my
power to establish the truth of these statements by the most respectable
and unquestionable testimony. They are verified by the letters of Col.
Sevier, written in reply to mine ; by the statements of Gen. Thos.
Kennedy, Col. Tohn Sawyers, James Cooper, Henry Blevins, John Long,
Major William Delaney, Col. Matthew Willoughby, Col. John Sharp,
William King, Esq., Geo. Morrison, Jacob Isely, Jacob Bealer, Joseph
Bealer, John Peters, Major Christopher Taylor, Rev. Felix Earnest,
William Willoughby, Robert Elder, the affidavit of Col. Moses Shelby,
and a multitude of others that might be added. All of whom either
participated in the battle of King's Mountain, or speak from long tradi-
tion, and the information of those who did, and who are now no more.

In Col. Sevier's letter to me of the 17th of January, 1810, he says, " It
is true that Col. Campbell was not within one-quarter of a mile when
the enemy surrendered to yourself and me." In another letter of the
27th of August, 1812, when speaking of the battle of King's Mountain,
he says, "It is well known you were in the heat of the action. I
frequently saw you animating your men to victory; at the surrender, you
were the first field officer I recollect to have seen. I have no doubt you
must recollect Col. Campbell was some considerable distance from that
place, at that time, and that you and myself spoke on that subject the
same evening. I perfectly recollect on my seeing you at the close of
the action, that I swore by G-d they had burnt off your hair, for it was
much burnt on one side. It is well known by some hundreds in
Tennessee, that you were Colonel on that campaign, and that we were
the only persons who set on foot the expedition, and had considerable
trouble to get Campbell to join us."

Gen. Kennedy (who belonged on that day to Sevier's column) states
that he was a Captain in the battle of King's Mountain, and fought on
the eastwardly quarter of it, where Campbell's regiment was also en-
gaged— that he saw me frequently, but does " not recollect to have seen
Col. Campbell during the action," &c. In his statement he further
says, " I was within sixty or seventy yards of the enemy when they
raised the flag, and was close in with them in a minute or two afterwards,
and I well recollect to have seen Col. Shelby there one of the first men
I met with. I remember to have heard several persons inquire for Col.
Campbell before he came up, which was, I think, about fifteen minutes
after the surrender. I also recollect to have heard it talked of in the

APPENDIX. 569

army, after the action and for many years after when in conversation
with men who were in that battle, that Col. Campbell was not at the
surrender for some time after the enemy had laid down their arms.

Col. John Sawyers, than whom there is no man more entitled to
credit, as certified by the most respectable and distinguished gentlemen
of Tennessee — states, that " Isaac Shelby, late Governor of Kentucky,
held the command of Colonel at the battle of King's Mountain — that I
was a Captain in his regiment, and know that he first planned the ex-
pedition with John Sevier," &c. " He (Shelby) was also among the
first at the surrender. I saw him and Col. Sevier when the enemy laid
down their arms, but did not see Col. Campbell for some time afterwards.
I also state, that Maj. Evan Shelby, brother of Isaac, and not Isaac
Shelby, Sevier, or Campbell, as I have heard that some now state,
received the flag and sword. I also state, that from this circumstance I
was led to think of Col. Campbell at the time, looked for him among
the officers, and do believe that if he had been there I should have seen
him, and that he did not come up for fifteen or twenty minutes after the
enemy had laid down their arms, and been placed under guard. I also
know, that it was the general talk at the time, and I have frequently
since heard it spoken of by men who were in the action, as an indis-
putable fact, that he was not in the latter part of the action, nor at the sur-
render. I also recollect distinctly to have heard it said amongst the
officers before we left the mountain, as well as on the way home, and
since, that Campbell himself admitted it, and in a private conversation
with Col. Shelby, on the mountain, had said he could not account for it.
I remember to have intended to ask Col. Shelby, if this was so, but it
has so happened that I have never mentioned this subject to him, nor
he to me."

Maj. William Delaney states, that " I was an Orderly Sergeant in
in the action of King's Mountain ; that I was with Col. Shelby, and rode
with him while placing a guard round the enemy after the surrender —
that I did not see Col. Campbell in the latter part of the action, nor at the
surrender, for some minutes afterwards, and that I heard this spoken of
at the time, as well as since. It is also my belief, from what I under-
stood at the time, (although I did not see it myself) that it was Maj.
Evan Shelby, and neither of the four Colonels, that received the sword
from the British officer in command."

Col. Moses Shelby states, upon oath, that he was twice wounded in
the action on King's Mountain — that he was assisted down to a branch
some small distance from the foot of the mountain on the east end, and
that he saw Col. Campbell there sitting on his black horse ; this was
about the middle of the action, and he knows " that Col. Campbell did
not leave that place until the battle was over, or until the firing had
ceased."

570 SHELB V'S PAMPHLET.

Jacob Bealer states, that he was in Capt. Pemberton's company in
the battle of King's Mountain, " and amongst the very first at the place
of surrender." The commander asked for our General, and gave his
sword first to Mai. Evan Shelby, who kept it until Col. Campbell came
up, which was twenty minutes, and I think longer, afterwards. From
the discourse which I heard between Col. Shelby and the British officers,
I know that Campbell was not there, and that it was that length of time
before he came up."

Joseph Bealer certifies, that " I was at the surrender with my brother
(Jacob Bealer) at his side, and saw and heard what he has stated in the
above certificate, and know them to be true, and have always spoken
of them, and heard them spoken of, by those who were there, in
this way."

John Peters also states, that he " was in Capt. Pemberton's company
with Jacob and Joseph Bealer, and amongst the first at the surrender.
That I know of my own knowledge, that what Jacob Bealer has stated
in his certificate, is true — that the enemy surrendered, and that there was
a ring made round them fifteen or twenty minutes before I looked up
and saw Col. Campbell coming with two or three others down the
mountain — that is what I have always heard, and never heard it con-
tradicted."

The statements of the other individuals who are above named, tend
to confirm the same facts.

With respect to the certificates published by Mr. Preston, I shall
leave the public to compare them with the facts I have stated, and form
their own judgment. I will only observe, however, that John McCulioch
is the only one of those whose statements have been published, that I
have had an opportunity of communicating with, and he has certified
that he never signed the certificate published as his. The statement
which he there makes, "that he saw Col. Campbell, at the enemy's
markee,' &c. is very unimportant and proves nothing. That 'markee'
was at the east end of the mountain and five or six hundred yards from
where the enemy surrendered.

The testimonials which I have now exhibited will satisfy the world that
the statements contained in my letters are true.

I deeply and sincerely regret the necessity that has been cast upon me
of discussing, in defence of my own character, a subject so delicate and so
invidious. It is a controversy that I have not sought ; it is one that I
would have avoided, if any alternative had been left me. My letters
to Col. Sevier were written in all the confidence of a private corres-
pondence with an old friend. I question not the motives that influenced
his son to publish them after the death of his father. But certainly it
was an event altogether unexpected by me. The circumstances under
which those letters were written, the person to whom addressed, and

APPENDIX. 571

their private and confidential character must convince the world that I
did not write them for the purpose of defaming the memory of Col.
Campbell, or with any design of giving an invidious publicity to the un-
pleasant truths which they contain. And if to have spoken the truth
requires an apology — if one be due either to the living or the dead, the
circumstances of this case amply furnish it ; and ought to have mitigated
the violence and injustice with which Mr. Preston has assailed me. I
do not say this to deprecate the wrath or censure of any one ; — for I am
conscious of no impropriety, and I fear no consequences.

Mr. Preston states, that I have charged Col. Campbell with cowar-
dice. I have made no such charge. I have stated facts only, and cow-
ardice is the inference or construction which he chooses to make. The
facts stated, I know to be true ; but yet I do not believe that Col. Camp-
bell was a coward. I believe that in the commencement, and the first
part of the action, he acted bravely, and that his subsequent conduct
was the effect of some unaccountable panic, to which the bravest men
are subject. Such, at least, are the sentiments which I have indulged
and cherished ; and these combined with my regard for Col. Campbell,
and his relatives and connections, will not only furnish a ready answer
to the question so exultingly asked by Mr. Preston, why I did not long
ago denounce his ancestor to the world as a coward and paltroon? — but
will also account for my long and habitual silence on the subject. They
will account, too, when taken in conjunction with Col. Campbell's good
conduct during a part of the action, for the expressions which Mr.
Preston has quoted as used by me in the autograph letter to which he
alludes. I can only say that I have no recollection of that letter. I
pretend not, however, to doubt its existence, since it is affirmed by Mr.
Preston, and it having ever been my wish to shield the memory of Col.
Campbell from reproach.

As to the document of "curious character," (the report of the battle,
&.C, signed by the officers) to which Mr. Preston so triumphantly refers as
furnishing contradictions to the statements contained in my letters ; it
may be remarked, that it was not drawn up on King's Mountain, nor
until some days after we had left it — that it is nothing more than a brief
and hurried account, in general terms, of the expedition and the battle,
drawn up to authenticate the intelligence of our victory, and give tone
to public report. This document, inaccurate and indefinite as it is in
some particulars, furnishes none of those contradictions which Mr.
Preston has supposed to exist.

To make out one of those supposed contradictions, he quotes that
part of it which states, "The troops upon the right having gained the
summit of the eminence, obliged the enemy to retreat along the top of
the ridge to where Col. Cleveland commanded, and were there stopped by
his brave men ; — a flag was hoisted" &c. Having interpolated, in par-

572 SHELB TS PAMPHLET.

enthesis, after the word, "right," in the above quotation, the words
"Col. Campbell's division," Mr. Preston, exclaims, "thus it is given
under Col. Shelby's own hand in 1780, that the enemy was routed by
the division commanded by Col. Campbell in person." The document
authorizes no such conclusion, and it is only rendered plausible from the
interpolation which he has made. The truth is, as I have before stated
it, that a great part of the column commanded by Sevier, owing to the
heavy fire in front of the two centre columns was drawn into the action
on the east end of the mountain, and became mingled and blended with
them during the remainder of the action. This fact is proved by the
certificates of Messrs. Kennedy, Taylor and Earnest, who belonged to
Sevier's column on that day.

"This venerable memoir" is also supposed by Mr. Preston, to furnish
"a contradiction in direct terms" to that part of one of my letters to Col.
Sevier, where I state "that it may be fairly said, that the great body of
the men who crossed the mountains on that expedition, were raised and
embodied by your and my own united exertions." There is in reality no
contradiction. It is true, as stated in that "memoir," that Col. Camp-
bell brought with him four hundred men from Washington County, Va.,
and that Sevier's regiment and mine consisted of only two hundred and
forty men each. But when it shall be recollected, as I have before
related, how this expedition was set on foot, how by the exertions of
Sevier and myself, the refugees were assembled, and brought to unite
with us, and how the co-operation of Col. Campbell was obtained, I
think that I am fully justified in having stated to Sevier, "that it may be
fairly said, that most of the men who crossed the mountains," &c, were
embodied by our exertions ; or, at least, that I shall be relieved from that
direct contradiction which Mr. Preston supposes must entirely destroy
my credibility.

As to the propriety of Mr. Preston's remarks in relation to the news-
paper publication of 1812, in which I am represented as being "conspic-
uous through the thin veil of a fictitious signature," I refer the reader to
a letter addressed to me on that subject by the late Col. Jno. B. Campbell,
and my reply to it, which I am credibly informed was forwarded to Mr.
Preston. I there state, that those circumstances relating to Col. Camp-
bell are true, and that they were known to his immediate relatives and
friends — yet that I had no participation whatever, in giving publicity to
them, but had endeavored to suppress their circulation. Why I was not
then assailed, and why it has been preferred to wait the lapse of so many
years, until I am brought to the very margin of the tomb, and hundreds
of the then living witnesses have been "gathered home" to their fathers,"
the public will judge.

Before I conclude, permit me to ask what reasonable motive or in-
ducement I could have had to fabricate falsehoods for the purpose of

APPENDIX. 573

defaming Col. Campbell? Has my reputation been built up by pulling
down that of others ? Or has it been plundered from the graves
of the dead ? Let my country answer these questions — that country
which has given me all that I have of name or reputation.

I think I have a right to be considered, at least, a witness of fair
character, one who has some claims upon the confidence of his country-
men, and who is entitled to be heard without prejudice, although it is his
painful duty to speak thus publicly and plainly of the dead. History,
however, deals with the dead ; and this is a subject of history. And al-
though my reluctance at the task, is certainly increased by the circum-
stance that CoL Campbell is no more ; yet it is very probable that I feel
myself more privileged to speak on this subject, than would be conso-
nant with Mr. Preston's ideas of the sanctity and reverence due to his
deceased ancestor ; for I was a contemporary of that ancestor, and I
shall soon lie down beside him in the grave. My career is run. I feel
as though I were almost as nearly connected with the dead as the living;
and standing thus beside my grave, and between two worlds, I solemnly
declare, that the facts I have stated, in relation to the conduct of Col.
Campbell in the battle of King's Mountain, are true.

I lament the occasion that has rendered it necessary for me to make
this avowal, and to treat of this unpleasant and invidious subject. I now
take my final leave of it. 1 am animated by no spirit of controversy. I
have no fears for my reputation, the hardy growth of many years. I
can listen undisturbed to the animadversions of Mr. Preston, and noth-
ing shall ever provoke me to engage further in this contest.

April, 1823. ISAAC SHELBY.

(DOCUMENTS.)

(No. 1.) [Col. John B. Campbell's Letter.]

" Hopkinsville ,30th July, 1812.
Sir : — I have seen in the Reporter of the 25th inst., a publication
signed " Narrator y which has treated the character of my deceased
uncle, Gen. William Campbell, with great injustice. So far as this pub-
lication, and others of the same character, have tended to promote your
election to the Chief Magistracy of the State, they have met my hearty
concurrence ; no man has felt more solicitious than myself for your suc-
cess ; but when the bounds of truth are transcended, and the character of
a deceased relative, long since in the silent tomb, basely traduced, and
his name unnecessarily lugged into this contest in a manner calculated
to dislaurel him, although the scope of the publication may have been
intended to promote the cause I approve, I cannot rest patiently without

574 SHELB Y'$ PAMPHLE T.

endeavoring to have the ungenerous statements in this publication con-
tradicted. The most prominent of which are, that " Col. Campbell was
not in this action except on the first onset;" and that he came up about
twenty minutes after the enemy had surrendered, and observed to you,
•' that he could not account for his own conduct in the latter part of the
action ;" thereby insinuating that he had cowardly skulked out of danger
after the commencement of the action, and remained in his snug retreat
until danger ceased to exist. I cannot for a moment, sir, entertain
the belief, that you would give any countenance to a statement calculated
to wound the reputation of Gen. Wm. Campbell, and I am persuaded
that " Narrator" who seems to have undertaken to be your biographer,
must have derived his information from some other source, but if from
you, must have misunderstood you. That Gen. Campbell acted a con-
spicuous part in the affair of King's Mountain, all his fellow soldiers
with whom I have ever conversed, most unequivocally assert ; and the
Legislature of Virginia as an evidence of their approbation of his distin-
guised gallantry on the occasion, thanked him through the medium of a
committee, presented him with a fine horse elegantly caparisoned, a
sword and pistols. That youself and Col. Sevier acted your parts with
bravery is universally admitted ; but that the whole merit of the affair is
to be ascribed to you, to the exclusion of others, is going further than
history warrants, or fellow soldiers have asserted.

The great respect I have always entertained for you, from the char-
acter my friends gave me of you, and that increased by the small
acquaintance I cultivated last summer, forbids my believing that you had
any knowledge of this publication previous to its appearance. It will,
therefore, give me great pleasure, and no doubt ail the friends of Gen.
Campbell, if you would correct the misrepresentations of "Narrator,'*
and, through the same medium, place my deceased friend's conduct in its
proper point of view. I have written to Col. Francis Preston on the
subject, and expect from him certificates from persons who served
under Gen. Campbell, which I wish not to have occasion to use. I am,
Sir, very respectfully,

Your Obedient Servant,

JOHN B. CAMPBELL.

(No. 2.) [Answer to the above letter.]

"August 14th, 1812.
"Sir: — By last Saturday's mail I received your favor of the 30th ult.
relative to a publication which appeared in the Reporter of 25th of last
month.

I assure you, Sir, that that publication appeared without my knowledge
or approbation, and that I felt as much surprise and regret upon reading it
as could have been felt by you or any one else. I knew not, and am still

APPENDIX. 575

unacquainted with "Narrator;" but immediately on seeing that piece I
wrote to the two printers in Frankfort, and the editors of the Globe in
Danville, expressing my disapprobation of that production, and requesting
them not to re-publish it in either of their papers.

Col. William Campbell (for he was not a General at King's Moun-
tain) deserved great credit for the manner in which the action was
brought on, and for his conduct through great part of it. He was doubt-
less a brave man, but the boldest may at some luckless moment be
confounded ; this, in my opinion, does not detract from his former or
subsequent renown. But it is as true as that Heaven and Earth exist,
that he was not in the latter part of the action, and that he did apologize
to me for it before we left the mountain, and spoke once or twice to me
on the subject upon our retreat.

I have rarely mentioned this circumstance, except in confidence, to his
friends; among this description was old Col. Preston, and your own
father, who had heard something said on the occasion, and conversed
with me upon it, about the latter end of the year 1781. I would not for
the universe detract from the merits of a brother officer long since in the
silent tomb, for whose memory I have ever felt a high respect and
esteem, and sincerely regret the appearance of that unguarded production,
and would say everything consistent with truth to remove the unpleasant
sensations which it may have occasioned. Perhaps you attach more
importance to that anonymous publication than it deserves. If, however,
you should choose to make any comments upon it, unless they go to
impeach my veracity or honor, they shall pass without my notice. But
I shall regret it extremely, if you should so notice that unauthorized
production, as to compel me to express the foregoing sentiments, or
exhibit a document in my hands respecting that delicate subject. I
should be glad of an interview with you. Will anything lead you to
Frankfort ? If, it should, be so good as to drop me a line.
With great respect, I am, Sir, your Obedient Servant,

ISAAC SHELBY.

(No. 3.) [Col. Sevier to Gov. Shelby, Jan. 17th, 1810 :]
" It is true, that Col. Campbell was not within one quarter of a mile
when the enemy surrendered to yourself and me. Without detracting from
the merits of Col. Campbell, there were other officers in the battle of
King's Mountain, that merited as much notice from their country as
himself.

(No. 4.) [Col. Sevier to Gov. Shelby, Aug. 27th, 1812 :]
" It is well known you were in the heat of the action. I frequently
saw you animating your men to victory. At the surrender, you were the
first field officer I recollect to have seen. I have no doubt you must

576 SHELB Y'S PAMPHLET.

recollect Col. Campbell was some considerable distance from
that place, at that time, and that you and myself spoke on that
subject the same evening. I perfectly recollect on seeing you at the

close of the action, that I swore by they had burnt off your hair, for

it was much burnt on one side. It is well known by some hundreds in
Tennessee, that you were Colonel on that campaign, and that we were the
only persons who set on foot the expedition, and had considerable trouble
to get Campbell to join us."

(No. 5.) [Gen. Thomas Kennedy, of Garrard County, Ky., Nov., 25th,

1822:]
I commanded a company of volunteers in the battle of King's Moun-
tain, on the 7th of October, 1780, and I fought in Maj. McDowell's
battalion on the eastwardly quarter of the mountain. I do not recollect
seeing Col. Campbell during the action ; he might have been engaged
too far off from me. But I well recollect to have seen and heard Col.
Shelby, at different times, animating and encouraging the men, before
they were compelled to retreat ; and when the enemy charged and drove
us rapidly down to the foot of the mountain, I saw Col. Shelby using
great exertions to rally the men, and I believe it was owing to his efforts
principally, that they were rallied, and turned back upon the
enemy, when the firing again commenced most furiously for about ten
minutes. The enemy then began to give way in their turn, but continued
a scattering fire upon us, until they retreated near to the west end of the
mountain, (which was from four to six nundred yards) where they sur-
rendered. I was within sixty to seventy yards of the enemy when they
raised the flag, and was close in with them in a minute or two afterwards,
and I well recollect to have seen Col. Shelby there one of the first men
I met with. I remember to have heard several persons enquire for Col.
Campbell before he came up, which was, I think, about 15 minutes after
the surrender. I also recollect to have heard it talked of in the army
after the action, and for many years after when in conversation with
men who were in the battle, that Col. Campbell was not at the surrender
for some time after the enemy had laid down their arms."

(No. 6.) [Col. John Sawyers, of Knox Co., Tenn., Feb. 16th, 1823,

certifies :]
That Isaac Shelby, late Governor of Kentucky, held the command
of Colonel at the battle of King's Mountain — that I was a captain in his
regiment, and know that he first planned the expedition with John
Sevier, who then held a similar commission — that said Shelby went
courageously into the action — was the commander who rallied the Sulli-
van troops when broken — that I saw him, and received directions from
him frequently on the mountain, in the heat of the action, and heard him

APPENDIX. 577

animating his men to victory. He was also amongst the first at the sur-
render. I saw him and Col. Sevier when the enemy laid down their
arms, but did not see Col. Campbell for some minutes afterwards. I also
state, that Maj. Evan Shelby, brother of Isaac, and not Isaac Shelby,
Sevier, or Campbell, as I have heard that some now state, received the
flag and sword. I also state, that from this circumstance I was led to
think of Campbell at the time, looked for him amongst the other officers,
and do believe that if he had been there I should have seen him ; and
that he did not come up for fifteen or twenty minutes after the enemy
had laid down their arms, and been placed under guard. I also know,
that it was the general talk at the time, and I have frequently since
heard it spoken of by men who were in the action, as an indisputable
fact, that he was not in the latter part of the action, or at the surrender. I
also recollect distinctly to have heard it said amongst the officers before
we left the mountain, as well as on the way home, and since, that
Campbell himself admitted it, and in a private conversation with Col.
Shelby, on the mountain, had said that he could not account for it. I
remember to have intended to ask Col. Shelby if this was so, but it has
so happened that I have never since named this subject to him, nor he
to me.

(No. 7.) [James Cooper, of Hawkins Co., Tenn., Feb. 18th, 1823,

certifies :]

That in the section of country in which I live, I have heard it
generally spoken of by the soldiers who were in the battle of King's Moun-
tain, that Col. Campbell did not act as bravely on that occasion as he
did on some others; that it was a well-known fact, that he did not make
his appearance at the place of surrender until after the enemy had been
taken from their arms, and placed under guard — that this is the way in
which I have always heard my neighbors, James Campbell, John Long
and several others speak of this matter.

(No. 8.) [The statement of Col. Moses Shelby made upon oath.]

I, Moses Shelby, do state, that I was in the battle against the British

and Tories upon King's Mountain, on the 7th day of October, 1780,

in Col. Isaac Shelby's regiment. That I received two wounds in that

action ; by the last wound, through my thigh near my body, I was

rendered unable to walk, or to stand without help, and was assisted

down to a branch, some small distance from the foot of the Mountain,

at the east end — at which place I saw Col. William Campbell, (our

commander) sitting on his black horse. I knew him perfectly, as I was

well acquainted with him. This was about the middle of the action,

and I do know, that Col. Campbell did not leave that place until the

battle was over, or until the firing had ceased. All this is true, and

within my own knowledge. Given under my hand at New Madrid,

this 2d day of November, A. D. 1822. MOSES SHELBY.

578 SHELBY'S PAMPHLET.

(No. 9.) [Henry Blevms,of Hawkins Co., East Tenn., Feb. 18th, 1823,

certifies :]
That I was a private in Capt. Elliott's company, in Shelby's
regiment, at King's Mountain — I was not in the action, but in
the rear guard with the baggage — I know, however, that it was the
general talk in the army on the next day, that Col. Campbell was not
in the action, after they were first beaten back down the mountain, and
that he himself admitted it, and said that he could not tell how it hap-
pened— I recollect to have heard him told of it once, by Gen. Sevier.
The way in which this took place was this — there were about thirty
Tories condemned to be hanged ; nine only were executed. They were
executed three at a time, near to Sevier's tent ; while it was going on,
Campbell came up, and demanded in an angry manner, why they did
not hang all these damned rascals at once ? Sevier laughed and re-
plied, " Why, Colonel, if we had all been as much in earnest in the
action, I think we should have killed more, and had fewer of them to
hang." I also heard it thrown up to him by two men who were
wounded, William Cox and Moses Shelby. I heard Sevier say, at
different times afterwards, that if he had acted as Campbell did in the
action, he would not have blamed his men to have killed him. It has
been the general talk amongst those whom I have heard speak on this
subject at different times since, that Campbell did not act with his usual
bravery on that occasion.

(No. 10.) [John Long, of Hawkins Co., Tenn., Feb. 19th, 1823,

certifies :]

That I was a soldier in Shelby's regiment at the battle of King's
Mountain, that I know that Col. Shelby went bravely into the
action, and that it was his influence that rallied our troops when broken
— that I saw him at the surrender, and know that he first stopped the
firing on the enemy, declaring that as they had surrendered, they ought
not to be fired on, which some were disposed to do, who were crying out
" Buford's play," wishing to retaliate for their conduct on a former
occasion. I also state, that I did not see Col. Campbell either in the latter
part of the action nor at the surrender, and that it was the common talk
in the army, and among the men coming home, and frequently since,
that he was in neither. I also recollect to have heard it laughed about
afterwards, that Col. Sevier had told Campbell that if we all had been
as brave in the action as about the hanging of the Tories, that we should
not have had so many of them to hang. I have heard it said ever
since by those who were in the action, that Campbell was not in the
latter part of the action, and had not acted as bravely on that day as it
is said he had done on other occasions.

APPENDIX. 579

(No. ii.) [Maj. William Delaney, of Sullivan Co., Term., Feb. 21st,

1823, certifies:]
That I was an Orderly Sergeant in the action of King's Mountain
— that I know that Isaac Shelby distinguished himself on that
occasion, and that it was generally said by those whom I heard speak of
it at the time, that he was entitled to more credit than any other officer
at the Mountain — that I was with him, and rode with him, while placing
a guard round the enemy after the surrender — that I did not see Col.
Campbell in the latter part of the action, nor at the surrender, for some
minutes afterwards, and that I heard this spoken of at the time, as well
as since. It is also my belief, from what I understood at the time,
(though I did not see it myself) that it was Maj. Evan Shelby, and
neither of the four Colonels, that received the sword from the British
officer in command." * * * * * *

(No. 12.) [Col. John Sharp, of Sullivan Co., Tenn., Feb. 21st, 1823,

certifies :]
That I was an Ensign in Capt. Pembertons' company, in the
battle of King's Mountain, and that I was in the front line when the
enemy surrendered — that Col. Shelby was the first man I heard order
the enemy to lay down their arms, after they began to cry for quarters ;
he damned them, if they wanted quarters, why they did not lay down
their arms. I also state, that I did not see Col. Campbell until some
minutes afterwards, though I never heard him charged with cowardice
on that account, and do not pretend to say he did not do his duty.
All I can say is, that I did not see him at that time.

(No. 13.) [George Morrison, of Sullivan Co., Tenn., Feb. 20th, 1823,

certifies :]
That I have often heard my father, Peter Morrison and my
father-in-law Jonathan Wood, who were both in the battle of King's
Mountain, but since dead, state, that Col. Campbell was not in the latter
part of the action, nor at the surrender for some time after the enemy had
laid down their arms.

(No. 14.) [Jacob Isely, of Sullivan Co., Tenn., Feb. 19th, 1823, certifies :]
That though I was not in the action of King's Mountain, I
have ever since lived in the neighborhood of a number of men who
were there, and have always heard it said by them, that Col. Campbell
was not in the latter part of the battle — that he went bravely into the
action, but after the men were beaten back, had staid down at a branch
with the wounded men, until the firing had ceased. I also state, that I
have often heard old Martin Roler, who was in the action, laugh about
what Sevier had said to Campbell, when Campbell wanted all the Tories

580 SHELB rs PAMPHLET.

hung, that if we had all been as brave in the action, there would have
been fewer to hang. Moses Shelby and John Fagon, two of the men
who were wounded, often stated after their return in my presence, and
that of many others, that they saw Col. Campbell at the branch from the
middle of the action until after the surrender. I have also heard
Thomas Elliott and Martin Roler both say often, that Moses Shelby had
stated it to his face.

(No. 14.) [William King, Esq., of Sullivan Co., Tenn., Feb. 21st,

1823, certifies :]
That I have been a resident in this County for about forty
years past — that though I was not in the battle of King's Mountain, yet
I have very often in early times heard our men who were there, con-
verse on this subject, and state, that Col. Campbell was not in the latter
part of the action nor at the surrender to receive the sword from the
British Commandant. I also declare that I never heard it either from
Col. Shelby or from any of his family connections.

(No. 15.) [Jacob Bealer, of Sullivan Co., Tenn., Feb. 23d, 1823,

certifies :]

That I was in Capt. Pemberton's company, and was amongst
the very first at the place of surrender — that when the enemy cried out
for quarters, I heard Col. Shelby curse them, and ask, if they wanted
quarters, why did they not lay down their arms. The commander
asked for our general, and gave his sword first to Maj. Evan Shelby,
who kept it until Col. Campbell came up, which was twenty minutes,
and I think longer, afterwards. From the discourse which I heard
between Col. Shelby and the British officer, I know that Campbell was
not there, and that it was that length of time before he came up.

(No. 16.) [Joseph Bealer certifies Feb. 23d, 1823:]
That I was at the surrender with my brother (Jacob Bealer) at his
side, and saw and heard what he has stated in the above certificate, and
know them to be true, and have always spoken of them, and heard
them spoken of by those who were there, in this way.

(No. 17.) [John Peters, of Sullivan Co., Tenn., Feb. 23d, 1823,

certifies :]

That I was in Capt. Pemberton's company with Jacob and
Joseph Bealer, and amongst the first at the surrender — that I know of
my own knowledge, that what Jacob Bealer has stated in his certificate,
is true — that the enemy surrendered, and there was a ring made round
them fifteen or twenty minutes before I looked up and saw Col. Camp-
bell coming, with two or three others, down the mountain — this is what I
have always heard, and never heard it contradicted.

APPENDIX. 581

(No. 18.) [Major Christopher Taylor, of Washington Co., Tenn., Feb.
25th, 1823, certifies:]
That I was a Captain in the battle of King's Mountain, and
saw Col. Campbell twice in the heat of the action, before we were last
beaten down the mountain — but that I did not see him in the latter
part of the action, or at the surrender for some minutes afterwards.
After the enemy were placed in a ring, and a guard four men deep
placed around them, I saw him come up close to the place where I
stood, and an opening was made for him to go amongst them — before
this, one of the Shelby's, and I think Evan, had received the flag,
the first one having heen shot down, and I saw him ride round, or
nearly round, the enemy, telling our men that they had given up,
and endeavor in that way to stop the firing. I have always believed
that Colonels Shelby and Sevier acted with distinguished bravery on that
occasion.

(No. 19.) [Rev. Felix Earnest, of Green Co., Tenn., Feb. 28th, 1823,

certifies:]
That I was in Sevier's regiment, Capt. William's company, at the
battle of King's Mountain — that I was at the surrender, and saw the
enemy stacking their arms, and a guard placed around them, but
that I did not see Col. Campbell at the place of surrender, for some
minutes afterwards.

(No. 20.) [William Willoughby, of Lincoln Co., Ky., March 17th, 1823,

certifies :]
That I was a Lieutenant in Capt. Beattie's company, and Col.
Campbell's regiment, in the battle of King's Mountain. It has al-
ways been my opinion, that Col. Isaac Shelby and Col. John Sevier
deserved as much honor from their country on that occasion as any
other officers on the mountain — that I saw Col. Shelby often animating
our men during the action. I did not see Col. Campbell after the com-
mencement of the action, nor at the surrender, until the enemy were in
the act of stacking their arms. I have always understood, that Col.
Shelby received the sword from the British commander ; and I also state
(although I don't know it of my own knowledge) that it was a report
thirty or forty years ago, that Col. Campbell was not present at the
surrender, to receive the sword from the British commander.

(No. 21.) [Robert Elder, April 2d, 1823, certifies:]

That I was a volunteer of the regiment commanded by Col.

William Campbell, in the action, fought upon King's Mountain, on the

seventh day of October, in the year 1780, and do hereby declare, that I

never saw Col. Campbell on the field of battle after the first onset of the

582 CAMPBELL VINDICATED.

action, until the surrender of the enemy. I also declare, that I often
saw CoL Isaac Shelby endeavoring to animate our men, and particularly
at the time of the battle when the enemy charged our lines, and drove
us down the mountain, from one hundred and fifty to two hundred
yards, or upwards. I both saw and heard CoL Shelby make great ex-
ertions to rally our men, which he finally effected, and turned them back
upon the enemy, and drove them in their turn until they surrendered.

(No. 22.) [John McCulloch, of Washington Co., Va., certifies:]
That though I was applied to by the friends of the late Col.
Campbell, to know what I could state in relation to the battle of King's
Mountain, I never did subscribe to the certificate which I am told has
been published in my name ; nor have I ever seen it, either in writing
or in print, and cannot therefore say whether it states the truth or not.
I saw Col. Campbell at the enemy's markee, how far it was from there
to the place of the surrender, or whether the enemy or some of them
might not then be surrendering, I cannot state.

(No. 23.) [Gen'l. James Winchester, of Tennessee, in a letter to

Thomas Smith, Esq., dated February last, says, in relation to

Mr. Preston's, publication :]

" I perfectly recollect in the year 1785, when I first came to this

country, that a number of respectable men, among whom were the

Bledsoes, well acquainted with the affair of King's Mountain, did not

hesitate to say, that Sevier and Shelby had a fair claim to the honors of

that day ; that Campbell was some distance from the place of action, &c."

REJOINDERS TO GOVERNOR SHELBY.

The papers properly coming under this head are too lengthy for in-
sertion. The first, by Wm. C. Preston, Colonel Campbell's grandson,
was addressed, June twentieth, 181 3, to the Editor of the Kentucky Re-
porter, in vindication of his ancestor from the charge of cowardice at
King's Mountain, made in that paper by "Narrator." Mr. Preston
again came forward in defence of Colonel Campbell, repelling the same
charge made in Governor Shelby's letters to Governor Sevier, adducing
several statements of King's Mountain survivors, disproving the accusa-
tion ; and citing Governor Shelby's letter of October, 1780, to Colonel
Arthur Campbell, and the official report of the battle, signed by Shelby,
as conflicting with his recent letters to Governor Sevier, and animad-
verting upon the motives which could have prompted Governor Shelby
to engage in the work of detracting from the merits of the dead.

On the appearance of Governor Shelby's pamphlet publication, in
1823, Wm. C. Preston replied, May tenth, in that year, in the Colum-
bia, S. C. Telescope, making a manly defence. His father, General

APPENDIX. 583

Francis Preston, at the same time, made a reply in the Abingdon, Va.,
Gazette, bringing forward an explanatory certificate of John McCulloch,
stating, in effect, that he had forgotten having made his first certificate
when he was induced to give one to Governor Shelby's agent, denying
that he had ever made any statement. He also introduced Colonel
Matthew Willoughby's affidavit, stating that he was in Campbell's regi-
ment, on the King's Mountain campaign, and he never heard a word
uttered at that time derogatory of Colonel Campbell's "great bravery
and good conduct" in the battle ; adding that "the statement of Moses
Shelby would not, perhaps, be credited, from the character he bore
about the time and after the battle, as he, with others, was engaged in
plundering, in the Carolmas, both Whigs and Tories, and running the
property so plundered to this side of the mountains."

General John Campbell, then a member of the Virginia Council of
State, made a vigorous reply to Governor Shelby, in the Richmond En-
quirer, June twenty-fourth, 1823, discussing the points in controversy,
refuting the charge of cowardice, and Shelby's error in supposing he
saw Colonel Campbell, during the heat of the battle, two hundred yards
away, sitting on his bald-faced black horse— citing the fact that it was
Campbell's servant, John Broddy, who rode the black horse on that oc-
casion.

The principal certificates adduced by the Messrs. Preston, and Gen-
eral John Campbell, follow in their order :

Col. Wm. Edmondson, the Major of Campbell's regiment, in his cer-
tificate, in 18 1 3, states : Campbell was made the chief commander of the
King's Mountain Expedition, not by any pre-concert, or as a matter of
conciliation towards the older Colonels, but by a caucus of field officers ;
and, as well as he could recollect, the whole of the suffrages were given
to Colonel Campbell. It was generally understood after the battle, that
Colonel Campbell had performed his duty with great judgment and de-
termined bravery. I was acquainted with Colonel Campbell for a num-
ber of years, and always found him, and ever believed him, to be a man
of dauntless intrepidity.

David Beattie, of Campbell's men, in 1813, states: I saw Col.
Campbell, in the hottest of the engagement, riding along the lines, en-
couraging and exhorting the men, and directly under the enemy's fire.
He continually rode along the lines, marshalling and leading on the
men until his horse became fatigued, when he dismounted, and com-
manded on foot until the close of the action. When the flag was raised,
the British surviving commander and suite came near to the spot where
I and several others were standing, and inquired — "where is your com-
mander ?" Either I, or one of those standing with me, pointed to Col.
Campbell, and observed that he was our commander ; when the British
officer immediately advanced towards him, holding his sword by the

584 CAMPBELL VINDICATED.

point, and delivered it to him. After the engagement, I heard many of
the men express their admiration of the courage of Col. Campbell. I
saw him repeatedly during the battle in those places where it raged most
violently.

James Crow, of the Virginia regiment, states, in 1813: When
charged, we ran down the mountain a small distance, not more than
twenty or thirty paces. I saw Col. Campbell not far from us. As the
enemy turned we turned. * * * When the British flag was
raised, I was in less than the length of my gun of Col. Campbell, when we
closed round the enemy. DePeyster, the British commander, was sitting
on a grey beast, and addressed Col. Campbell, referring to the firing
after the flag was raised : "Col. Campbell, it was damned unfair," and
repeated the words a second time. The Colonel made him no reply,
but ordered him to dismount. * * *

Maj. James Snodgrass, of Campbell's men, states : I frequently
saw Col. Campbell, during the engagement, in the most dangerous and
exposed situations, and am convinced that he could not have left the
lines for any length of time. I saw him immediately after the surren-
der, and before the enemy had entirely ceased firing, coming from
amongst the enemy's troops, with several swords in his hands.

Capt. James Keys, of Campbell's regiment, states : When the ene-
my raised a flag, and called for quarter, I heard a British officer inquire
for Col. Campbell, who being pointed out to him, he advanced and
tendered his sword, which Col. Campbell declined. The firing had
not yet ceased, and I heard the British officer remonstrate with Col.
Campbell against the conduct of his soldiers.

John McCulloch, of Campbell's men, in 1813, states: I did not see
Col. Campbell at the commencement of the action ; but after the regi-
ment had driven the enemy, and had reached the top of the mountain,
I recollect perfectly to have seen him, and the spot where he was — I saw
him nigh one of the enemy's markees on foot, his horse having given
out — he was pressing on with all the speed he could towards the enemy
— a few minutes before their surrender.

Gen. George Rutledge, of Shelby's regiment, in 1813, states : I saw
Col. Campbell at the commencement of the engagement, and then
towards the last of the action when we had driven the British into
small bounds, and surrounded them — when Campbell's and Shelby's
regiments had got intermixed. I well recollect to have seen Campbell
acting with distinguished bravery. He was on horseback, stripped to his
shirt sleeves, and his shirt collar open. He was very hoarse. The
enemy raised the flag — it disappeared, when it was instantly raised again.
They did not yet cease firing. Campbell rushed through amongst
us, calling out — "cease firing" waving his sword downwards — "for
God's sake, cease firing!" He met DePeyster with the flag. I saw

APPENDIX. 585

DePeyster present the handle of his sword to Campbell, and he re-
ceived it. I saw several men fall on both sides, after the flag was raised.

Thomas Jefferson writes from Monticello, to Gen. Francis Preston,
November tenth, 1822: Your favor gives me the first information I
had ever received, that the laurels which Col. Campbell so honorably
won in the battle of King's Mountain had ever been brought into
question by any one. To him has ever been ascribed so much of the
success of that brilliant action as the valor and conduct of an able com-
mander might justly claim. * * * I remember well the deep and
grateful impression made on the mind of every one by that memorable
victory. It was the joyful annunciation of that turn of the tide of
success which terminated the Revolutionary war with the seal of our
independence. The slighting expression complained of, as hazarded by
the venerable Shelby, might seem inexcusable in a younger man ; but
he was then old, and I can assure you, dear sir, from mortifying ex-
perience, that the lapses of memory, and the forgetfulness incident to
old age, are innocent subjects of compassion more than of blame. The
descendents of Col. Campbell may rest their heads quietly on the pillow
of his renown. History has consecrated, and will forever preserve it in
the faithful annals of a grateful country *

Henry Dickenson, of Campbells regiment, May, 1823, states: The
enemy charged upon us with their bayonets, and we retreated down the
mountain, when I saw Col. Campbell on foot pursuing his men in a
quick gait, calling upon them to halt, which they soon did, and came
back, and he with them began to fight again. We advanced within
thirty or forty yards of the enemy, who made a firm stand for some
time ; but after awhile broke and retreated upon the mountain where
they halted again a few minutes ; but on our advancing and firing, they
continued their retreat to the wagons, and halted behind them, which
were on the summit of the mountain, from which we soon drove them
down to the end of the mountain, where I suppose they were met by the
troops sent around to that quarter, for it was immediately called out by
some men just before me, that the enemy had raised the flag. I stepped
back a few paces, and called to Col. Campbell, that the enemy had
raised the flag. Frequently during the battle I saw him exposed. He
directed me to go with him. We went to the line of surrender, where
we met the British officers, with their swords in their hands, holding
them about the middle, with the hilt down, and Col. Campbell put his
hand out to receive them, when the officers drew back, apparently as if
they did not intend to deliver the swords to him — supposing, as I pre-
sume, from his dress, that he was not the commander, as he had no coat
on, and his collar was open. Seeing his countenance alter, I was

The original of this letter is preserved by Robert M. Hughes, Esq., Norfolk, Va.

586 CAMPBELL VINDICATED.

apprehensive he would use some violence, which they might return. I
took my gun from my shoulder, at the same time mentioning that this
was our commander. The officers then bowed to Col. Campbell, and
delivered their swords to him, which he placed under his arm, as well as
I remember, and turned around, directing them to follow him, which
they did. I never heard any charge or insinuation of Campbell's want
of bravery, or leaving his men during the action, until the unfortunate
controversy which I see in the papers, and which I lament, as I do
know Campbell was a brave man, having seen him frequently in the
battle, rallying his men on the retreat, and encouraging and urging
them on the advance, sometimes before them, and sometimes amongst
them. I particularly noticed Campbell, as he was our commander, and
I was well acquainted with him. Col. Shelby must be mistaken — I hope
unintentionably so, in stating that he saw Col Campbell, when our
troops retreated down the mountain, two hundred yards from them, for
at that time I saw Col Campbell on foot exerting himself to rally the
men. I saw Samuel Newell, a little before we got to the wagons, on
horse-back, his thigh very bloody from the wound he had received, en-
couraging the men to advance — I thought him a brave soldier. He was
a man of the strictest veracity, and of very correct deportment. I was
not much acquainted with Moses Shelby ; he appeared to be a loose,
rattling character*

John Craig, of Campbell's men, states: As we dismounted near the
foot of the mountain, I saw Col. Campbell riding along the line, to take
the head, and as he passed he said, " Here they are, my brave boys,
shout like hell, and fight like devils / " He was then in advance of his
men. We obeyed his orders, and rushed rapidly up the mountain. We
were driven down — rallied, returned, and drove the enemy. They
hoisted their flags in token of surrender. Here I saw Col. Campbell on
foot, in his shirt sleeves, receive the sword from the surviving and com-
manding officer of the British army. After the victory was complete,
and the sword delivered to Campbell, I remember he being present, as
well as sundry other officers and men, they all joined in three loud
cheers. I was with Campbell at Whitzell's Mills, where we were much
cut to pieces, but he acted with his usual courage. f

Col. John Witherspoon, of Cleveland's regiment, states : When the
battle commenced, I saw Col. Campbell engaged bravely animating his
men, and watching and defending every point that seemed necessary.

* Judge Peter Johnston certifies to the veracity and integrity of Henry Dickenson, clerk
of Russell County court, and has formerly heard him relate the particulars of the action,
corresponding precisely with those here detailed.

f Craig's relation of binding up Lieut. Edmonson's wound is omitted. In a subsequent
statement, Mr. Craig adds, that the reason the Americans left King's Mountain in such
haste was, that a report came that Tarleton was in pursuit, and would rescue the prisoners.

APPENDIX. 587

* * When we were driven down the hill, I saw Col. Campbell, with
other officers, animating and rallying his men ; and I saw him again
when the enemy surrendered ; he was then attending, with the rest of
the officers, to the security of the prisoners.

Col. Benjamin Sharp, of Campbell's men, states : During the heat
of the action, I saw Col. Campbell three times, ride backwards and for-
wards in advance of our lines, in the space between us and the enemy,
with his sword in his hand, and*, as well as I could understand him, ex-
claimed, " Boys, remember your liberty! "

William Edmondson, of Campbell's regiment, states: Whilst giving
way before the bayonet, Col. Campbell was gallantly rallying the men ;
at the foot of the mountain he brought them to order, and they again
■advanced upon the enemy. They were again driven back a small dis-
tance, and rallied a second, and then a third time — the last time we
succeeded.

Joseph Phillips of Cleveland's men, states: Campbell's regiment
acted instantly after the advanced guard flanked off, and was fighting
for some considerable time before Cleveland's command could render
him any aid. That part of the mountain which Campbell's men were
compelled to ascend, was the most craggy, rough, steep and difficult
part of it. His men made the attack under a heavy fire of the enemy.
Cleveland's command were compelled to ride along the foot of the
mountain, three or four hundred yards before they dismounted, and
pressed up towards the enemy. The surrender commenced as soon
as thev reached the top. Encamped that night on the battle ground,
marching the next day at ten or twelve o'clock, Col. Campbell remain-
ing behind to bury the dead, joining the army that night.

Col. David Campbell, of the Virginia regiment, states: I saw Col.
William Campbell on horseback at the time the battle commenced, rid-
ing along the lines, encouraging the men. When driven down the
mountain, Major Edmondson endeavored to rally the men ; but did not
succeed, until Col. Campbell came along the lines, calling to the men to
"halt, and return, my brave fellows, and you will drive the enemy imme-
diately;" and, it appeared, as soon as they heard his voice they halted,
returned, renewed the attack, and drove the enemy along the mountain,
from behind rocks, and their wagons, until Ferguson was slain, and they
surrendered. I saw Col. Campbell there, on foot, engaged in securing
the prisoners. About this time, I observed Capt. DePeyster inquire for
the commanding officer. Col. Campbell, who was but a little distance
from him, was pointed out to him ; he stepped forward, and delivered
his sword. I was not more than twenty feet from DePeyster.

Gen. William Russell, Lieutenant, commanding Neal's company, of
Campbell's regiment, states : I saw Col. Campbell go into the action on
horse-back. We were forced back, but rallied and engaged again.

588 CAMPBELL VINDICATED.

About half way between the place where we ascended the mountain and
the enemy's wagons, I saw Col. Campbell in his shirt sleeves passing
our line, encouraging the men in a loud and animating tone of voice.
When the enemy were surrendering, I saw him coming from amongst
them with two swords in his hand. I was intimately acquainted with
him.

William Snodgrass, of Campbell's men, after giving an account how
he and Edward Smith were sent by Col. Campbell, early on the morn-
ing after the battle to meet and turn the footmen up Broad river, and
how the dead were buried, states : On the top of the mountain, there
were but a few steps between us and the enemy in the battle. Capt.
DePeyster, the senior British officer, after Ferguson fell, surrendered
his sword to Col. Campbell. Our men were sent home as soon as we
were out of the reach of Tarleton's Light Horse.

Col. Samuel Newell, of the Virginia men, in April, 1823, states : Was
wounded in the attack on the guard — the first of the fighting. As I
turned back, after being wounded, Col. Campbell passed me engaged
in forming his regiment. I got a horse and rode back to the lines. The
regiment advanced — was charged by the British with the bayonet, and
broke — retreating farther than was necessary, across the intervening val-
ley, to the top of the next rise, where I met them. I saw Col. Campbell and
Maj. Edmondson about half the distance between their own men and
the enemy, calling on their men to halt, which they did, and advanced
a second time to the charge. They had two partial checks afterwards —
only partial, as the men learned not to dread the bayonets as at first.
The last charge the regiment made was the longest and warmest — last-
ing twenty minutes, as stated by the British Surgeon who held his watch.
I do not believe the regiment was more than thirty feet * from the
British line. In the very midst of this storm, I saw Col. Campbell at the
head of his regiment, and so much advanced in front as to be in danger
from the fire of his own men. As well as I can recollect, his encourag-
ing words were — "Come on — come on, my brave fellows, another gun —
another gun will do it--d--n them, we must have them out of this."
This I saw, and this I heard. Col. Campbell was at this time on foot,
his horse having given out.

Visited Maj. Lewis, his brothers, and Capt. Smith, all of Cleveland
regiment, and all wounded, when billeted in Burke County ; when in a
conversation on the battle, Maj. Lewis said : "Boys, I believe you all
did your duty, and deserve well for it, but let me tell you, had it not
been for Campbell and his Virginians, I'll be d — d if Ferguson would
not have been on that mountain yet, had he chosen to stay there."

In May following, Col. Newell further states : I saw Col. Campbell

Gov. Campbell, adds, in explanation, that this is a slip of the pen— it should be yards.

APPENDIX. 589

leading his men the moment the British broke ; and what infatuation
could then induce Col. Campbell to turn his back, and run from his own
victorious troops, and a defeated enemy ? It is inconceivable — incredible
— impossible ! I have ever believed that not more than one-half of our
regiment, that is two hundred, were in the battle — the rest being left
behind. Thirty-five of the killed and wounded were of our regiment,
thirteen of whom were commissioned officers ; and no regiment or corps
gained the summit of the hill until the Virginia regiment opened the
way for them. Col. Shelby and his brother state, that they knew Col.
Campbell, [whom they thought they saw in the distance, shirking duty
and danger] by his black bald-faced horse. The fact is, Col. Campbell
did not ride a black bald-faced horse that day ; but a pretty large bay
horse — not bald-faced, that was in thin order, and broken down by pre-
vious fatigue, giving out early in the action. At the moment alluded to,
as the time of Col. Campbell's [supposed] delinquency, he was not on
horse-back, but on his feet, encouraging and animating his men to
victory, uttering words already stated. *

Maj. James Snodgrass, of Campbell's men, in April, 1823, states:
Frequently saw Col. Campbell during the engagement in the most dan-
gerous and exposed situations, part of the time on horse-back, and part
of the time on foot. The horse which Col. Campbell rode, when this
affiant saw him, was a bay. Having seen Col. Campbell frequently
during the action, and in different positions, I am convinced that he
could not have left the lines for any length of time. I saw him immedi-
ately after the surrender, and before the firing had entirely ceased, com-
ing from amongst the enemy, with several swords in his hands, and
some of the British officers following him, within a few steps of this
affiant. At that time, he never heard any intimation that Col. Campbell
did not perform his duty gallantly at King's Mountain, or anywhere
else. Instead of being considered cowardly, he was always thought to
be too rash. It was the report of the country, after King's Mountain
battle, that Moses Shelby was engaged in plundering indiscriminately
both Tories and Whigs, and kept very bad company.

Col. Thomas Maxwell, of Shelby's regiment, states: When the
attack was made on the main picket guard, / saw Col. Campbell on a
bay horse, in his shirt sleeves. He had principally rode this horse on
the march. I knew both of his horses well. The action commenced at
the most eastern end of the spur of the mountain where Campbell com-
manded. Campbell's and Shelby's men contended with the British
regulars directed in person by Ferguson, for some time before Cleveland
and Sevier's men got into action. Capt. Shelby's company, to which I

* In a third statement, August 4th, 1823, Col. Newell gives an account of the officers of
Campbell's regiment, naming the killed and wounded, so far as he could do so — which facts
have been incorporated into the text of this work.

590 CAMPBELL VINDICATED.

belonged, was twice repulsed by the British regulars ; were rallied, and
renewed the fight, driving the enemy to the top of the mountain, where
we were joined by Col. Campbell's main body, and forced our foes along
the summit to their wagons and tents. By this time Cleveland's and
Sevier's columns were in action. About three minutes after Furguson
was killed, I saw Col. Campbell — he was then on foot. The enemy
then very quickly hoisted their first flag, and commenced surrendering
in every direction.

Andrew Evins, of Campbell's men in May, 1823, states: I saw
Col. Campbell at the close of the battle, and at the surrender; for when
I went to fire at the enemy, Campbell threw up my gun, and said,
"Evins, for God's sake don't shoot — it is murder to kill them now, for
they have raised the flag ;" and so passed on round the prisoners, and
was on foot. He rode a bay horse in the battle ; but his horse gave out,
and he took it on foot.

Benjamin White, of the Virginia regiment, in May, 1823, states : Col.
Campbell rode a, bay horse. I saw him receive the sword from the Brit-
ish Captain — I think his name was DePeyster, and heard Col. Campbell
order the flag to be received, and I believe it was Evan Shelby that
received it I saw Col. Campbell very frequently during the whole
action encouraging his men, and feel confident he was not absent from
his men one moment during the whole battle. I was in the battles of
Point Pleasant, Princeton, Brandywine, Germantown, and others, and in
all these battles I never saw a braver man than Col. Wm. Campbell,
according to my judgment.

William Moore, of Campbell's men, in June, 1823, states: Just
before the action commenced, Col. Campbell came riding along the lines,
on a bay or sorrel horse, as well as I remember — it was not his black
horse, 1 am confident — and told us to prime our guns afresh, and pre-
pare for action. We commenced the action, and I saw him on the same
horse in his shirt sleeves, with I think, a handkerchief tied about his
head. At the close of the action — when I was just shot down, having
my thigh broken — I saw him waving his sword downward, and calling
to his men to cease firing, that the enemy had surrendered. He was
still in his shirt sleeves. I not only saw him act bravely on that day, but
also two or three weeks previously with the Tories on New river.

Israel Hayter, of Campbell's regiment, in November, 1822, and June,
1823, states : From the commencement of the battle until near its close,
when he was wounded, and the enemy had hoisted one white flag, he saw
Col. Campbell frequently ; and he was during the whole time busily en-
gaged in encouraging his men, and leading them on up the mountain.
His regiment twice gave way, and retreated some distance. Col.
Campbell rallied them each time, and brought them again into action in
the most gallant manner ; and his whole conduct, as far as affiant saw

APPENDIX. 591

or heard, was that of a brave and good officer. Affiant further well
recollects, that Col. Campbell rode a bay horse in the action, and that
his servant rode a black horse or a dark brown.

Capt. James Keys, of Campbell's men, in June, 1823, states : When
the action was about to commence, he saw Col. Campbell give his rifle
to his servant man, who, as well as this affiant recollects, was then on a
black horse ; and he well recollects, that Col. Campbell rode a bay horse
in the action.

William Anderson, of Campbell's regiment; Joseph Phillips, of
Cleveland's men ; Jacob Norns, James Pearce, and Gideon Harrison,
of Sevier's regiment, also furnished statements that it was his f?ay horse
— not his bald-faced black — that Col. Campbell rode in the earlier part of
the action.

KING'S MOUNTAIN BALLADS.

FERGUSON'S DEFEAT — 1780. *

Come all you good people, I pray you draw near,
A tragical story you quickly shall hear
Of Whigs and of Tories, how they bred a great strife,
When they chased old Ferguson out of his life.

Brave Colonel Williams from Hillsboro' came,
The South Carolinians flocked to him amain,
Four hundred and fifty, a jolly brisk crew,
After old Ferguson we then did pursue.

We march'd to the Cowpens — brave Campbell was there,
And Shelby, and Cleveland, and Colonel Sevier,
Taking the lead of their bold mountaineers,
Brave Indian fighters, devoid of all fears.

They were men of renown — like lions so bold,
Like lions undaunted, ne'er to be controll'd,
They were bent on the game they had in their eye,
Determined to take it — to conquer or die.

We march'd from the Cowpens that very same night,
Sometimes we were wrong — sometimes we were right,
Our heart's being run in true Liberty's mold,
We regarded not hunger, wet, weary nor cold.

* Snatches of this rude ballad have, from time to time, been published. It has been
preserved in its entirety by Dr. J. H. Logan, who found it among the old papers of Robert
Long, a Revolutionary soldier, of Laurens County, South Carolina. The writer's name is
not known.

592 KING '5 MO UNTAIN BALLADS.

Early next morning we came to the ford,
Cherokee was its name — and " Buford" * the word,
We march'd thro' the river, with courage so free,
Expecting the foemen we might quickly see.

Like eagles a hungry in search of their prey,

We chas'd the old fox the best part of the day,

At length on King's Mountain the old rogue we found,

And we, like bold heroes, his camp did surround.

The drums they did beat, and the guns they did rattle,
Our enemies stood us a very smart battle,
Like lightning the flashes, like thunder the noise,
Such was the onset of our bold mountain boys.

The battle did last the best part of an hour,
The guns they did roar — the bullets did shower,
With an oath in our hearts to conquer the field,
We rush'd on the Tories — resolv'd they should yield.

We laid old Ferguson dead on the ground,
Four hundred and fifty dead Tories lay round —
Making a large escort, if not quite so wise,
To guide him to his chosen abode in the skies.

Brave Colonel Williams, and twenty-five more
Of our brave heroes lay roll'd in their gore,
With sorrow their bodies we laid in the clay,
In hopes that to heaven their souls took their way.

We shouted the victory that we did obtain,
Our voices were heard seven miles on the plain,
Liberty shall stand — and the Tories shall fall,
Here's an end to my song, so God bless you all !

king's mountain— 1780.1

'Twas on a pleasant mountain the Tory heathens lay,

With a doughty Major at their head, one Ferguson, they say,

Cornwallis had detach'd him a thieving for to go,

And catch the Carolina men, or lay the Rebels low,

The scamp had rang'd the country in search of Royal aid,

And with his owls perch'd on high, he taught them all his trade.

But, ah ! that fatal morning, when Shelby brave drew near,
'Tis certainly a warning that Government should hear,

"Buford" was the countersign that day.
t This ballad, written shortly after the action, was published on a small sheet the fol-
lowing year, and is included in Frank Moore's Songs and Ballads 0/ the American
Revolution

APPENDIX. 593

And Campbell brave, and Cleveland, nnd Colonel John Sevier,
Each with a band of gallant men to Ferguson appear.

Just as the sun was setting behind the western hills,

Just then our trusty rifles sent a dose of leaden pills ;

Up — up the steep together brave Williams led his troop,

And join'd by Winston, bold and true, disturb'd the Tory coop.

The Royal slaves — the Royal owls, flew high on every hand,
But soon they settled — gave a howl, and quarter'd to Cleveland ;
I would not tell the number of Tories slain that day,
But surely it is certain that none did run away.

For all that were a living were happy to give up,

So let us make thanksgiving, and pass the bright tin cup ;

To all our brave regiment, let's toast 'em for their health,

And may our glorious country have joy, and peace, and wealth.

SUPPOSED LOYALIST SONG.— By Gen. J. W. DePeyster.

They caught us on a mountain bald, 'twas no place for a stand,
For woods and thickets, dense and close, the summit did command,
But those who led us on that day, of 'Crackers' had no fear,
And when we charg'd the varments ran — did quickly disappear.

But vain was pluck, and vain each charge, for from each tree there
A deadly rifle bullet, and a little spurt of flame ; [came,

The men who fired we could not see — they pick'd us off like game,
To call such work fair fighting seems a misuse of the name.

So ev'ry shot told one by one, till of the reg'lar few,
Most lay stark dead, just where they fell, like beasts in a battue,
Then the militia cried 'enough,' and loud for quarter bawl'd,
And huddled in a bunch, and whipp'd, upon that mountain bald.

Alas ! alas ! our Gen'ral fell, quite early in the fight,
Eight bullets in him— each enough to kill a man outright,
Our second he got plump'd also, and then the game was up,
When fell the 'Bull-dog' Ferguson, and next the Bull-dog's pup.

D — n 'em, we kill'd as many ' Rebs' as they had kill'd of us.
But then as pris'ners we were bound, some suffer'd ten times worse,
And some had better far been shot than stripp'd, starv'd, and froze,
And see those hung, our comrades dear, a struttin' in their clothes.

BSPTwo interesting King's Mountain ballads, written by modern American poets,
have appeared in Harper s Magazine— one by William Gilmore Simms, in October, ifi6o;
the other by Paul H. Hayne, in November, 1880.

88 THE END.

INDEX.

Abney, Long Sam, mentioned, 310-n

Adair, John, mentioned, 173, 174, 528

Adams, Mrs. M. V., mentioned, . 5

Alexander, Wm., cited, . . 349

Allaire, Lieut. Anthony, sketch of, 480

cited, 74. Si, 89, 97,99, 102, 149

203, 207, 208, 250, 279, 280, 281, 284

293, 297, 299,300,321, 324, 325, 328

334, 340, 344, 346, 347, 35o.. 354

355. 483-

Allaire's Diary, . . 484 5*5

Allaire, newspaper accounts, . 516 19

Allegiance, taking oath, . 147

Allen, Col. Richard, noticed, . 462

Alhs, W. H., cited, . . 5, 179

Almon's, Remembrancer, cited, . 39

44, 61, 122, 192, 200, 208

American Archives, cited, . 381

American Pioneer, cited, . . 229

246, 274, 283, 308, 322

American Review, cited, 120, 122, 169

188, 189, 194,211,215, 224,228,235

252, 274, 317, 319, 327, 339, 343, 344

347-
American Revolution, causes, . 17
American Volunteers, 61,62,237,480

484, 485, 486, 492. 493. 496> 499. 5QI

506, 507.
Anderson, Fort, taken, 84, 86, 89, 502
Anderson, Col. Rob't, mentioned, 452
Anderson, Wm., cited, , 268, 591
Andre, John, mentioned, . 37*39
Andrew's American War, cited, 53,299
Annual Register, cited, . 51, $3
Armand's Corps, mentioned, . 41
Armstrong, Col. Mania, mentioned,

354. 359, 388, 512
Ashe, Gen. John, defeated, . 19
Ashby, Captain, mentioned, , 200

Atkinson's Casket, cited, . 387, 402
Augusta County, Va., Ms.

records, cited, . . . 380

Augusta, Georgia, besieged, . 199

200, 295-96, 341, 508, 520

Avery, Col. Isaac T., cited, . 149

151. 156

Back Water Men, mentioned, 204

206, 208, 210, 212, 217, 236, 274
Baker, John, mentioned, . 442
Bald Place of Yellow Mountain, 177
Baldwin, Isaac, noticed, . 341-42
Balfour, Col. Nisbet, mentioned, 141

H2. 373. 496. 5oi
Ballads of King's Mountain, . 591-93
Ballendine, Ccl. Hamilton, a myth, 22
Ballew, Richard, cited, 149, 334, 340
Bancroft, George, cited, . 4, 34

61, 252, 326, 336, 375, 376, 393, 467
Banner, Hon. John, mentioned, . 5
Banning, Benoni, wounded, . 304
Barbarie, Capt. John, noticed, . 515
Barber and Howe's New Jersey,

cited 61, 157

Barry, Andrew, mentioned, . 365 67
Barton, Capt. John, noticed, . 459-60
Bates, Bloody Bill, mentioned, . 242
Battles of Revolution, cited, . 39, 322
Baylor, Col. George, surprised, . 57
Bealer, Jacob, cited, . 570, 580
Bealec, Joseph, cited, . 570. 580
Beason, Solomon, mentioned, 230
Beatson's Memoirs, cited, 38, 39, 55
Beattie, Capt. David, noticed, 251

404, 405, 581
Beattie, David, cited, . 287, 583
Beattie, Ensign John, noticed, 248

304, 405
Beattie, William, noticed, . 405

596

INDEX.

Beaulait, Lieutenant, wounded, 491
Beene, Capt. Jesse, mentioned, 424.
Beene, Robert, Watauga rifleman, 108
Bentalou's Reply to Johnson, cited, 61
Bentley, Hon. John A., mentioned, 5
Bernard, Gen. Simon, cited, 289

Beverly, Capt. John, mentioned, 449
Bibby, John, mentioned. . 340
Bickerstaff's Old Fields, . 328

Bicknell, Thomas, killed, . 261, 304
Big Bear, Cherokee Chief, . 430
Biggerstaff, Capt. A., noticed, 343,483
BiggerstafT, Ben. cited, . . 354
Bishop, cured of laziness, . 450
Blackburn, Lieut. Wm., killed, 304
Blackstock's, battle at, 74, 102, 468, 5 1 5
Blair, James, mentioned, 149, 180, 181
Blalock, Maj. S. G., cited, . 184
Blanton, James, cited, . . 354
Blasingames, noted Whigs, . 76, 505
Blevins, Henry, cited, . 326, 578
Bobo, Hon. Simpson, cited, 5, 95, 470
Bond, Jesse, mentioned, . 429

Boone, Dan'l, mentioned, . 184
295-96, 406, 427, 429, 438
Boone and the Pioneers of Ke?i-

tucky, work on, designed, . 6
Border Forays and Adventures \

work on, designed ... 6
Boren's or Bowen's river, . 323, 510
Botta's History, cited, . . 34
Bouchelle, T. S , mentioned, . 5
Bowen, Charles, cited, . . 256
262-63, 281, 436
Bowen, Lieut. Reese, noticed, 256-57
262, 304, 406, 526
Bowen, Capt. Wm., mentioned, 406
Bowman, Captain, killed, . * 24

Bowyer, Col. John, captured, 396-97
Boyd, Colonel, killed, . . 298
Boyd, John, killed, . . 3°2. 322
Bradley, Dr. A. Q., cited, . 5

128, 222, 275, 326
Bradley, Wm., mentioned, . 303
Brady and his Scouts, work on,

designed, .... 6

Brandon, Christopher, cited, . 129

131, 286

Brandon, Col. Thomas, sketch of, 469

470; noticed, 3, 76, 104, no, 119

129, 132, 142, 143, 166, 191, 217

244, 269, 285, 286, 326, 336, 362

520, 537, 538.

Brandy wine battle, . . 51-55

Branson, Eli, mentioned, . 388

Brant, the Mohawk Chief, work

on, designed, ... 6

Breazeale, cited, . . 88, 122
Brier Creek Defeat, . . 435
Bright's or Avery's Place, men-
tioned, . . . 177, 178
British Annual Register, cited, 51, 53
Brock, R. A., cited, . . 5, 378
Broddy, John, mentioned, 267-68, 583
Brown, Capt. Gabriel, mentioned, 468
Brown, Col. H. A., cited, 5, 249, 460
Brown, Maj. Jacob, noticed, . 424
Brown, J., Tory, mentioned,436-37,438
Brown Capt. John, noticed, . 460
Brown, John, killed, . . 303
Brown, Plundering Sam, Tory

freebooter, 134-39, 241, 317, 388

Browne, Col. Thomas, mentioned, 141,

200, 373, 508, 509

Bryan, Col. Sam., mentioned, 77

78, 141, 216, 435, 455

Buford, Col. Abraham, defeated, 41

45, 139, 282, 496-97

Bullen, Wm., wounded, . 304

Burgin, A., cited, . . 5, 184

Burgin, Maj. Ben., cited, . 151

Burgin, D., cited, ... 5

Burke, John, killed, . . 145-46

Burk's Hist. Virginia, cited, 288

296, 359
Bynum, Hon. J. G., mentioned, 178

216

Bynum, Hon. W. P., cited, . 5,

203, 206, 216, 354, 359

Bynum, Rev. W. S., mentioned, 5, 198

Byrd, Col. Wm., expedition, . 402

403, 418

INDEX.

597

Caldwell, Wm., mentioned, . 258
Callahan, Lieut. Joel, mentioned, 424
Callaway, Hon. Elijah, cited, . 5
186, 221, 287, 290, 389
Callaway, Dr. James, mentioned, 5
Callaway, Joseph, mentioned, 441
Callaway, Mrs. P. E., mentioned, 5
Callaway, Richard, mentioned, 438
439. 441.443
Callaway, Thomas, mentioned, 438
Callaway, William, mentioned, 441

442,443
Cameron. Alex., mentioned, 83, 108
Camp, Lieutenant, mentioned, 108

109, 505

Campbell, Col. Arthur, mentioned, 172

173. 174. 175. 215, 338, 379. 380

381, 383. 389. 390. 391. 396. 398

399, 400, 402, 527-29, 530, 537.

Campbell, Capt. Chas., noticed, 379-80

Campbell, Col., David, of Tenn., 251

255-57, 287, 587

Campbell, Ex-Gov. David, cited, 5

175, 178, 245, 247, 268, 275, 305

334, 338, 343, 37^, 379, 387. 39°
399, 402, 588.
Campbell's Hist, of Va.t cited, 389
Campbell, Gen. John, cited, 268, 583
Campbell, Col. John B., cited, 572-75
Campbell, Capt. Peter, mentioned, 106
108, 109, 114, 504
Campbell, Col. Richard, noticed, 410
Campbell, Ensign Robert, cited, 177
178, 179, 181, 221, 223, 248, 253-54
255. 268, 275-76, 277, 281, 332, 333
354. 336, 343. 409. 4io.
Campbell, Ensign Robert, King's

Mountain accounts, . 535-40
Campbell, Robert, captured, . 198
Campbell, Ex-Gov. Wm. B., men-
tioned, 5

Campbell, Gen. William, sketch of,
378-402 ; early life, 378-80 ; Dun-
more's war, 380 ; engages in Revo-
lution, 381-83 ; marriage, 383; ser-
vices in civil life, 383-84, 387 ; hang-

ing of Hopkins, 384-87 ; New river
expedition, 371, 387-88; King's
Mountain campaign, 3, 171-76;
King's Mountain, the march, 176-
95; chosen commander, 187-90,
522, 541-42, 548, 555, 564 ; council,
195-96; pursuing the enemy, 214-
35; strength of regiment, 214-15;
Holston men, 3-4, 242-43 ; battle
array, 243-48 ; battle-ground craggy,
250; heroic conduct, 251, 255-57;
Tarleton's approach, 266-67, 288,
290, 316, 320, 322, 345-46, 367-68,
516, 518, 544-45; Bald Face, mis-
take, 267-68, 388-89, 583, 589-91 ;
reconnoitering, 268, 539, desperate
charge, 272 ; final charge, 277-78 ;
British flag displayed, 283; firing on
Tories, 283-86 ; huzzas for liberty,
284 ; an unhappy event, 284-85, 389-
90; receiving swords, 286-87; losses,
304-305 ; orders, 320, 326, 328, 329,
531-32; kindness to Tories, 326,
351. 352, 512, 531-32; respect for
the dead, 322 ; denounces plunder-
ing, 329-30, 532 ; execution of
Tories, 330-45, 391, 510-11, 539-40,
544, 545- 551 I official report, 352,
522-24 ; visit to Gen. Gates, 352 ;
disposition of prisoners, 350, 352,
357-60; visit to Gov. Jefferson, 358;
good words to victors, 374-76, 521-
22 ; disaster to the British, 376-77 ;
presage of independence, 377; Cher-
okee expedition, 390-91 ; Whitzell's
Mills and Guilford, 391-95, 533-34;
chosen Brig. -General, 395 ; serves
under LaFayette, 395-97; death and
character, 397-40-. 4^4- 534, 535;
variously mentioned, 520-592; cited,
302, 388, 394. 526.

Candler, Maj. Wm., noticed, 207

214,227, 244, 341,469

Cane Creek fight, . . 147-48
189, 198-99, 507, 528, 551

Carden, Maj. John, mentioned, . 141

598

INDEX.

Carolinian, The, cited, . . 313
Carr, Capt. Patrick, noticed, 124-25

340-41
Carrington's Battles of the Revo-
lution, cited, ... 39, 322
Carson, Col. John, noticed, . 170

197, 198
Carson, Hon. Sam P., mentioned, 150
Carson, Mrs. Sam P., cited, , 473
Carter, Coi. John, mentioned, 83, 170
Carter, Hon. Wm. B., cited, 5, 178, 179
Caruthers, Lieut. Andrew, noticed, 424
Caruther's Old North State, cited, 287
Caswell, Gen. Richard, mentioned, 41
116, 141, 413
Cedar Spring, derivation of name, 74
Cedar Spring, British attack on

Thomas, 73-75, 79,80,83,99, 101, 120
Cedar Spring, Dunlap's attack, 89-102,
120, 503, 506
Cedar Spring, plat of locality, . 91
Chambers and Crawford, desert-
ers, . . 177-78, 199, 335
Chambers, Mrs. Mary A., cited, 5, 179
Charleston, S. C, 1776, British

repulse, 20

Charleston, S. C, 1779, Provost's

invasion, . . • . 491
Charleston, S. C, 1780, siege of, 20-47

484-96
Charleston Courier, cited, . 277
Cherokee Outbreak, 382-83, 433-34
Cherokees, mentioned, . . 415
429-30, 451, 452
Chew, Lieut. Wm., mentioned, 108

109, 505

Childers, John, wounded, . 304

Chittim, John, wounded, . 258, 303

Chitwood, Capt. James, Tory, 340

344-45, 511, 516, 518

Christian, Col. Gilbert, mentioned, 417

Christian, Col. Wm., mentioned, 380

382, 410, 420

Chronicle, Maj. Wm., noticed, 3

214, 219, 225, 231-32, 257, 278, 322

477, 521, 549» 55i.

CiHey, Mr. & Mrs. C. A., men-
tioned, ... 5, 179, 261
Civil Warfare, its bitterness, 123

138-39, 140-41, 330. 371-74
Claiborne, Coi. H. L.f mentioned, 5
Clarke, Col. Elijah, services, 78, 83
85, 89-102, 103-22, 141-44, 162-64
168, 187, 199-201, 203, 206, 207
213, 214, 238, 295-96, 341, 503-506
508, 509, 520, 541.
Clark, Col. George Rogers, services, 19
Clark, Col. George Rogers, Life

and Campaign, designed, . 6
Clark's Fork of Bullock's Creek, 211
Clark, Capt. John, of Georgia, 93, 98
Clark, John, of Tenn., cited, . 88
Clarke, Coi. Thomas, mentioned, 23
Clary, Col. Daniel, noticed, . 106,
109, 143, 294
Cleveland, Col. Ben., sketch 0^425-54;
New river expedition, 388, 435 ;
mentioned, 3, 119, 173, 175, 180, 183,
184, 189, 520; speech in council,
195; mentioned, 196, 204, 214; in
battle array, 243-48, 436 ; speech to
his men, 24S-49; adventure, 261-63;
mentioned, 278, 308, 349, 352-54, 512,
520-92; losses, 304; Tory execu-
tions, 330-45, 391, 438, 510-11,
539-40, 544, 545, 551 ; vindicates
Campbell, 389.
Cleveland, Gen. B., mentioned, 5, 458
Cleveland, Jeremiah, cited, 5, 186
Cleveland, Capt. John, mentioned, 458
Cleveland, Hon. John B., men-
tioned, 5

Cleveland, Lieutenant Larkin,

wounded . . 185, 186, 458
Cleveland, Capt. Robert, noticed, 441
442, 443, 445, 458, 554
Clinton, Sir Henry, siege of

Charleston, . . . 20-47
Clinton, Sir Henry, on King's

Mountain, .... 377
Cloud, Hon. J. M., mentioned, . 5
Clough, Maj. Alex., killed, . 57

INDEX.

599

Clowney, Samuel, adventure, 126-28
Clowney, Hon.W. K., mentioned, 128
Cloyd, Maj. Joseph, mentioned, 392
Cochran, John L., mentioned, . 5
Cochrane, Maj. Charles, men-
tioned, . . 62-64, 484, 485
Cocke, William, noticed, . 88
Colleton, Lady, mentioned, 66, 491,496
Collins, Abram, mentioned, . 202
363-64, 548
Columbian Magazine, cited, . 290
Colvill, Capt. Andrew, noticed, 223

247. 405, 536
Congaree Sfores, mentioned, . 498
Congress, Journals, cited, . 358

374, 39°
Congress, Library of, mentioned, 4
Continental Journal, cited, . 158

Conyers, Maj. James, mentioned, 65
Cooper, James, cited, . . 577
Cooper, James Fenimore, cited, 53, 54
Cornwallis, Lord Charles, men-
tioned 22, 46, 47, 68, 71, 120, 140
144, 171, 200, 276, 340, 363-74

376-77. 39<-95. 545-
Corry, James, killed, . . 304
Cowpens, derivation of name, 823
Cowpens, battle, 285-86, 529, 547

Cox, Wrn., wounded, . 304, 578
Coyle, or Cowles, Tory, men-
tioned, . . . 436-37. 438
Craig, John, cited, . . 247

251, 284, 320, 392, 586
Craig, Capt. Robert, noticed, 405

Crawford and Chambers, desert-

ers, , . 177-78, 199.

Crawford, D. R., cited, . 5

Crawford, G. W., cited, . 5,
Crider's Fort, mentioned,
Crockett, Col. Walter, mentioned,
Croghan, Maj. Wm„ mentioned,

cited, . 23, 24-26, 28, 29, 32
Cromwell, Life and Adventures

of, noticed, . . 425-26,
Crow James, cited, .

250, 272, 27S, 283,

335
.69
179
185
337
23
. 33

427
234
5S4

Cruger, Lieut.-Col. J. H., men-
tioned, 113, 115,116, 140, 199,200

203, 377, 5o8> 509-
Culbertson, Josiah, . . 91

92,93, 107, 108, 136-39, 252-53
Cummings, Rev. Charles, 242, 381
Cunningham, Col. Robert, men-
tioned, ... 72, 143, 294
Cunningham, Wm., the Bloody

Scout, ... 83, 242, 468
Cusack, Adam, hung by British, 373
Cutbirth, Ben., mentioned, 438, 441
Cutbirth, Daniel, mentioned, . 440
Daniel, Hon. John W., mentioned, 4
Darby, Hon. John F., cited, 234, 235
Darcy, Joel, cited, . . . 164
Davenport, Martin, mentioned, 333
Davenport, Col. Wm., noticed, 333-34

340, 473
Davidson, Ben. and Wm., men-
tioned, . . . 150, 508
Davidson, Geo. F., mentioned, 5
Davidson, Mrs., mentioned, 198, 508
Davidson, Gen. W. L., men-
tioned, 189, 193, 216, 227, 296, 455
520-21, 542.
Davie, Col. W. R., mentioned, 207, 369
Davis, Oroondates, cited, . 121
Dawson's Battles, cited, 39, 122, 393
Day's Penn. Hist. ColFs, cited, 53
DeBosen, Lieut.-Col., killed, 58-59
Deckard rifles, noticed . . 175
Defiance, Fort, mentioned, 185, 334
DeKalb, Gen. John, mentioned, 41. 43
DeLancey, Maj. John P., men-
tioned 5354

Delaney, Maj. Wm., cited, 569, 579
Denard's Ford, locality, 203, 206, 509
DePeyster, Capt. Abraham, sketch
of, 479; noticed, 88, 106, 113
117, 247, 256, 257, 273, 274, 276
280, 2S1, 183, 286, 297, 327, 346
360, 499, 500, 501, 506, 507, 510
512, 517-19,523, 539. 546, 550, 566
5S4, 585, 5S7, 5S8, 590; the "Bull
Dog's pup." 593.

600

INDEX.

DePeyster, Gen. J. W., cited, . 5,

51, 237, 274, 284, 289, 295, 340, 593

DeTernay, Chevalier, mentioned, 43

44
Devoe, Thomas F., cited, . 158
Dickenson, Henry, cited, . 278
287, 585-86
Dickerson, M. O., cited, . . 5
149, 160, 161, 345
Dickey, Andrew and David, men-
tioned, . 145, 154, 232, 280
Dickson, Maj. Joseph, noticed, . 8 5

257, 477
Dickson, Misses Mary and Myra

A., cited, .... 473
Dillard, Maj. James, noticed, 269, 468
Dillard, Mrs. Mary, adventure, 74

102, 468
Dixon, Dr. B. F., mentioned, . 5
Doak, Rev. Samuel, mentioned 176
Dobson, Dr., mentioned, . 349
Donelson, Col. John, mentioned. 415
Doss, John, killed by Tories, . 447
Dryden, Nathaniel, killed, . 304
Duff, David, killed, . . 302
Duncan, Jesse, mentioned. 437-41
Dunlap, Maj. James, mentioned, 76 ;
at Earle's Ford, 80-83, 120, 50 r .
Cedar Spring affair, 89, 102, 238, 503;
mentioned, 88, 129, 136, 144, 199,
204, 238; wounded, 149, 155, 156;
sketch of, 1 56-64.
Dunmore's expedition, men-
tioned, . . . .380, 412
Dunmore dislodged from Gwyn's

Island, .... 382

DuPortail, Gen. Lebegue, . 29, 36
Dysart, Capt. James, noticed, . 304

384, 404
Dysart, John B., cited, . . 387
Earle, Baylis, noticed, . 83, 203
Earle's Ford, fight there, . 80-83

120, 501
Earnest, Rev. Felix, cited, 572, 581
Edmondson, Andrew, killed, 304

Edmondson, Andrew J., cited. . 408

Edmondson, John, Samuel and

Wm., mentioned, . . 305
Edmondson, Lieut. Robert, Sen.,

killed, . . 248, 304, 407

Edmondson, Lieut. Robert, Jr.,

wounded, 251, 253, 407, 408, 586
Edmondson, Capt. Wm., killed, 255-56
304, 405, 525, 526
Edmondson, Maj. Wm., noticed, 250
305, 38^402-404, 583, 587, 588
Edmondson, Wm. cited. . 587
Elder, Robert, cited, . . 581
Ellet, Mrs. Elizabeth, cited, . 87
102, 245, 275, 473
Elliott, Capt. James, noticed, 417, 578
Espey, Capt. Samuel, noticed, 100
102, 157, 303,478
Estill, Hon. Ben., cited, . 402, 404
Eutaw Spring's battle, . . 410
Evans, Philip, noticed, . 185
Evins, Andrew, cited, 268, 283, 590
Ewin, Hugh, mentioned, . 365-67
Exaggeration in military opera-
tions, 301

Fagon, John, wounded, . 304, 580
Fair Forest Settlement, . . 76, 90
Fanning, David, mentioned, 72, 106
113, 117, 122, 135, 139, 242, 294, 481
Fayssoux, Mrs. Dr. .mentioned, 66, 491
Fear, Capt. Edmund, mentioned, 474
Ferguson, Dr. Adam, cited, 52-53

211, 278, 287, 295, 32I
Ferguson, Col. Geo. A., mentioned, 5
Ferguson, Col. Patrick, sketch, 48-67,
479 ; birth and early services, 48-49 ;
rifle skill, 50-52 ; at Brandywine,
52-55 ; Monmouth, 55 ; Little Egg
Harbor, 55-57, 60-61 ; attacks Pu-
laski, 58-60; Charleston expedition,
61 ; wounded, 62-63, 4^6 ; Monk's
Corner affair, 25, 63-66, 490-91 ;
noble conduct, 66-67 ; captures
Haddrell's Point, 67, 493~94; Soes
to Ninety Six, 3, 68-72, 496-99; traits
of character, 73, 75 ; goes to Fair
Forest, 76-79, 88 ; Thicketty taken,

INDEX.

601

89; Cedar Springs, 94, 96; men-
tioned, 115, 116, 117, 129, 136, 484,
487, 488, 490, 492, 493, 494, 496, 501 ;
Inspector General, 142 ; visits Cam-
den, 505 ; goes to North Carolina,
144, 147, 363, 506 ; Cane Creek
fight, 147-48, 198-99. 507, 528, 551 ;
Mrs. Lytle, 151-53; sense of justice,
198; returns to Gilbert Town,
190 ; retreat, 199-200 ; Collins and
Quinn's mission, 202-203, 548', fur-
ther retreat, 202 ; appeal for aid, 204 ;
failure of messengers, 202, 363-64,
548 ; incident, 204-206 ; dispatch to
Cornwallis, 207 ; on King's Moun-
tain, 209, 216-17 ; his force, 237-38 ;
his whistles, 246, 254, 277, 291 ;
desperation, 273-75; attempted flight,
274-76, 525, 530, 539; his death, 275-
77, 280-81,510; not killed outright,
290-91 ; his conduct, 287-90 ; burial,
290-91, 321, 322; British accounts,
510, 516-19; his great disaster, 376-
77 ; his mistresses, 292 ; souvenirs,
286, 291, 307-308; memoirs of, 211 ;
variously mentioned, 520-93.
Fire hunting, described, 427-28

Fisher, Frederick, wounded, 304

Fletchall, Col. Thomas, mentioned,

72,481, 500
Fletcher, Lieut. Duncan, men-
tioned, 480-81, 500, 507, 519
Flint Hill, mentioned, . . 189
194, 216, 219, 224, 225
Floyd, Andrew, cited, . 192, 194
Fondren, Mathew, mentioned, 323
Foote's North Carolina, cited, 247,

268, 290
Foote's Virginia, . . 378

Forney, Abram, cited, . 259, 335

Franklin, Adj't Jesse, noticed, 287

458-59. 554

Franklin, Shadrach, cited, 5, 186

Franklin, Wylie, mentioned, . 5

Fraser, Major, mentioned, . 106

108, 109, 116, 504

Gage brothers, Tories, escape of, 325
Gage, Col. R. J., cited, . . 270
Garlington, Gen. A. G., cited, 5, 69
Gates, Gen. Horatio, mentioned, 3
116, 141, 352, 357, 358, 359, 372
374 521-22 ; Ms. papers, cited, 359,
Gibbs, Maj. Zachariah, mentioned,

143, 209, 223, 290, 294, 360, 500, 503
Gilbert Town, mentioned, . 195
Gilbert, Wm., mentioned, . 159
Giles, Wm., wounded, . 269, 302
Gilkey, John, cited, . 5, 333, 340
Gilkey, Dr. John H., mentioned, 5
Gilkey, Walter, Tory, 332-33, 340
Gillam, R. C, cited, . 214, 259
Gilleland, wounded, . 275. 303
Gillespie, Captain, mentioned, 159-6J
Gillespie, David, mentioned, 183, 184
Gillespie, Henry, mentioned, 181

Gillespie, Thomas, mentioned, in
Gilmer, Enoch, mentioned, 225-26

228-31
Gilmer, William, wounded, 257, 303
Gist, Nathaniel, killed, . 304

Gist, Capt. Wm., noticed, 355*56

483. 513
Givens, James, cited, . . 397
Goforth, Preston, and brothers, 302, 314
Goodloe, Hon. D. R., mentioned, 5
Gordon, Charles, noticed, . 261

304. 334
Gordon, Rev. Z. H., cited, 5, 261

Graham, Gen. Joseph, cited, . 169
197, 202, 227, 228, 233, 235, 247
27, 282, 283, 369, 457, 546-51.
Graham, Maj. J., S. C, Loyalist, 71
Graham, Gen. Sam., cited, . 280
Graham, Col. Wm., sketch of, 476
at Cedar Springs, 89,97,99, 100, 102
his fort attacked, 145-46 ; men-
tioned, 149, 193, 232, 280.
Gray, James, noticed, 316-17, 327

Gray, J. L., cited, . . 217

316, 317, 319, 327, 341
Green, Capt. Wm., noticed, 153

353-54, 482-83

602

INDEX.

Greene, Gen. Nathaniel, men-
tioned, 45, 139, 360, 393.. 395, 413
437 ; discusses retaliation, 371-74
opinion of mountaineers, 374
Guilford battle, 391-95. . 413, 437
Greer, Alexander, noticed, . 95
230, 232, 298
Greer, Ben., noticed, . 441, 442
Grimes, Captain, Tory, . 340

Gunn, a Tory, . . . 34?

Gwin, James, Sr., mentioned, 445

Hackett, Dr. R. F., mentioned, 5

Hackett, W. T., mentioned, 5

Kambright, Lt.-Col. Frederick,
sketch of, 476-77 ; noticed, 3, 193
214-15, 232, 233, 234, 244, 257, 273
278, 303, 549, 550.
Hamilton, Maj. John, Tory, . 143

294, 488
Hammond, Dr. A, L., cited, 5, 272, 277
Hammond, Col. LeRoy, mentioned, 47
Hammond, Col. Sam'l, sketch of, 467 ;
statements tampered with, 102, 122 ;
at Musgrove's Mills, 104, 1 19 ; with
Col. Williams, 191-92, 244, 269; at
King's Mountain, 3, 271-72.
Hammond's Store, fight, . 298

Hampton, Col. Andrew, sketch of,
474-75 ; noticed, 80, 81, 87, 119, 156
170, 204, 265.
Hampton, Adam, James T. and
Jonathan, Jr., cited, 5, 81, 156, 160
161, 292,354.
Hampton, Capt. Edward, noticed,,

82, 83, 137, 214, 238
Hampton Family, killed, . 83

Hampton, Jonathan, Sr., noticed,

1 53-56, 160, 161, 197
Hampton, Col. Henry, mentioned, 83

168
Hampton, Preston, mentioned 83

Hampton, Col. Richard, mentioned, 83
Hampton, Col. Wade, mentioned, 83

99
Handley, Capt. Samuel, men-
tioned, .... 279

Hanger, Col. George, cited, . 50
61, 63, 69, 72, 321, 369-70
Hanging Rock battle, . 141, 503
Haralson, Maj. Herndon, cited, 393
Hardin, Abraham, cited, . . 5

233. 273. 3*3> 322, 324, 344
Harper, Hon. J. C, cited, . 5

179, 185, 261, 334, 340, 473
Harrington, Col. Wm. Henry,

mentioned, .... 23
Harrison, Bill, a Tory, 447-48

Harrison, Gideon, cited, . 268, 591
Howsey, Captain, Tory, . 109

Hawthorn, Col. James, noticed, . 3
244, 464-65
Hayes, Col. Jos., noticed. 266, 467-68
Hayne, Coi. Isaac, mentioned, . 47
Hayne, James, cited, . . 396
Hayne, Paul H., mentioned, 4, 593
Haynesworth, Bill, mentioned, 87

Hayter, Israel, cited, 268, 304, 590-91
Hemphill, Capt. Thomas, men-
tioned, . . . 150, 508
Henderson, W. A., cited, . 326
Henderson, Col. Wm., mentioned, 28

502
Henigar, Henry, killed, . . 304
Henry, Moses, mortally wounded, 302

319-20
Henry, Patrick, mentioned, . 381

383. &7, 395> 454

Henry, Robert, cited, . . 119

122, 150, 198, 214, 224, 226, 228, 232

257-59, 279-80, 284, 292, 303, 365-67

473-
Herndon, Col. Ben., noticed, 119

444, 449, 456, 457
Herndon, Maj. Joseph, noticed, 222

461-62
Hewlett, Capt. Thos., wounded, 502
Hickman, Thomas, cited, . 392
Hightower, Wm., mentioned, 429, 430
Hildeburn, Charles R>, cited, 5, 164
Hill, J. R., mentioned,, . . 5
Hill, Adj't Thos. D., Jr., men-
tioned .... 143, 294

INDEX.

603

Hill, Col. Wm., cited, . . 114
122, 166, 167, 168, 191, 192, 193, 211

217-21, 222, 226, 228, 234, 277, 464
Hinson, Saul, anecdote, . .117
Hobbs, Augustine, Tory, . 340
Holland, Maj. James, mentioned, 161
Holloway, Charles, mentioned, 136-38
Holston, early exploration, . 379
Holston, Intelligencer, cited, 268

Holston, settlers, character, 242-43

381-82
Hopkins, Francis, Tory, 384-87

Horse-Shoe Robinson, referred to, 126
Horton, a Tory, mentioned, . 216
Huck, Capt. Christian, defeat, . 500
Huger, Gen. Isaac, mentioned, 40
41, 47, 63-65, 400
Hughes, Capt. Joseph, noticed, 122
129, 131-33, 277, 285-86
Hughes, Robert M., mentioned, 585
Hulett, [Hewlett,] Capt. Thos.,

wounded 502

Hunter, Dr. C. L., cited, . . 5

76, 122, 223, 225, 233, 258, 260. 268,

272. 313. 320, 322,336,473-
Husband. Col. Vezey, mentioned, 276

294. 482

Hyce, Leonard, wounded, . 304

Inman, Capt. Shadrack, killed, 107

109, no, 121

Innes, Lieut. -Col. Alex., mentioned, 71

80, 106, 108, 109, 114, 116, 120, 121,

136, 210, 484, 498, 504.
Iseley, Jacob, cited, . 326, 579

Jackson, Maj. James, mentioned, 341

473

Jackson, Nancy, adventure, . 87

Jackson, Capt. Wm., mentioned, 460

Jefferson, Thomas, cited, 358, 585

Johnson, Lewis, cited, . 5, 294

Johnson, Lieut. Samuel, noticed, 260

291, 304, 460-61, 462

Johnson, Dr. Uzal, noticed, . 277.

297, 303. 306, 307, 351, 354.481, 487

491, 496, 499, 506, 512, 518.

Johnston, Captain, of Georgia, 214

Johnston, Capt. James, noticed, < 85
86, 257, 577-78
Johnston, Gen. J. E., and Hon.

J. W., mentioned, . . 257
Johnston, Capt. Levi, mentioned, 483
Johnston, Judge Peter, mentioned, 257

586
Johnston, Col. Wm., mentioned, 5
Jones, Hon. Ham. C, cited, . 448
Jones, Col. John, mentioned, 78-81

83, 120
Judd, John and Rowland, men-
tioned, .... 249
Kelley, Rev. Dr. D. C, mentioned, 5

223
Kennedy, Hon. J. P., Horse-Shoe

Robinson, cited, . . . 126

Kennedy, Gen. Thomas, noticed, 148

149, 278-79, 473-74, 568, 572, 576

Kennedy, Wm., noticed, . 129-33

Kenton and his Adventures, work

on, designed, .... 6
Kentucky, early exploration, 429-30
Kerr, Capt. James, mentioned, 106

113, 114
Kerr, Joseph, mentioned . 76
224-25, 299
Kettle Creek fight, referred to, 298
Keys, James, cited, . . 263
287, 288, 584, 591
Kilgore, Charles, wounded, . 304
Kincannon, Lieut. Andrew, no-
ticed 286, 409

Kincannon, Dr. A. N., cited, 5, 287
King's American Regiment, . 237
King's Mountain Ballads, . 591-93
King's Mountain, origin of name, 209 ;
origin of expedition, 118, 149; gath-
ering of clans, 168, 170-76, 191-94;
the march, 176; deserters, 177-78, 199
335, 537; crossing mountains, 178-80;
Cleveland and Winston, 180, 183
184-86: the council, 186-90; appeals
to the men, 195-96 ; Ferguson's re-
treat, 198-209; the Pinnacle, 206;
horsemen selected, 221-22, 537, 548

604

INDEX.

552, 255 ; reach Cowpens, 223-24 ;
Whig force, 214-15, 227; British
force, 237-38 ; traits of mountaineers,
3-4, 242-43 ; battle array, 243-48
Winston's detour, 245, 552-53 ; out-
posts attacked, 246-48; Ferguson's
whistle, 246, 254, 277, 291 ; Cleve-
land's speech, 248-49 ; Tories, char-
acter of, 238-42, 294; Allaire's
exploit, 249, 517 ; Campbell's good
conduct, 251, 255-57 ; Shelby's
heroism, 252 ; Ferguson's position,
252 ; Josiah Culbertson, 252-53 ;
Moser, Shelby, 253 ; Ensign Camp-
bell, 252-54; Lacey's men, 254;
Captain Edmondson, 255-56; Reese
Bowen, 256-57; Robert Henry,
257~59J Twitty and Forney, 259;
Cleveland's men, 260; Lieut. John-
son, 260 ; Charles Gordon, 261 ;
David Witherspoon, 261 ; Cleve-
land's adventure, 261-63; McDow-
ell's men, 265, 554; Sevier's men,
266; Cleveland anecdote, 267; Camp-
bell's Bald Face, 267-68, 388-89;
fear of Tarleton, 266-67, 288, 290
316, 320, 322, 367-68; Williams' men,
268 ; Giles and Young, 269 ; death
of Williams, 270, 276-77, 284-85 ;
Hammond's charge, 271 ; premoni-
tion, 271-72; desperate charge,
272 Shelby's battle-cry, 272 ; Fer-
guson's desperation, 273-75, white
flags raised, 273, 276, 281 ; Fer-
guson attempts flight, 274-76 ; Fer-
guson's fall, 275-77, 280-81, 510;
Williams vs. Ferguson, 276-77 ; last
Whig charge, 277-78; British charges,
27879; enemy over-shot, 279, 531 ;
firing after surrender, 281-86; an
unhappy event, 284-85, 389-90 ; the
surrender, 286-87 ; unfit battle-
ground, 289-90 ; Ferguson not killed
outright> 290-91 ; Ferguson's burial,
291-92 ; Ferguson's mistresses, 292 ;
speculations, 290; Whig endurance,

292-93; strength of Loyalists, 293-94;
surprise of British leaders, 294-95 ;
error of McKenzie, 295-96 ; length
of battle, 296-97 ; British strength
and losses, 297-301 ; exaggerations,
301; Whig losses, 302-307; no Whig
surgeons, 306 ; destitution, 307
souvenirs, 307-308 ; dying and dead,
308-309 ; Long Sam Abney, 310-12 ;
Drury Mathis, 313 ; Thos. Mullen-
eaux, 313-14; sharp-shooters, 314
Goforths and others, 314-15 ; Logan
brothers, 315 ; dying Tory, 316 ; Sab-
bath morning, 316; wagons burned,
horse-litters made, 316; Gray and
Tory friend, 316-17 ; Tories impress
Whigs, 310, 317 ; a termagant lib-
erated, 317 ; prisoners pack arms,
318-19 ; spoils of victory, 319 ; story
of Mrs. Henry, 319-20; return
march — burial, 320-22 ; Campbell's
order, 320 ; Williams' burial, 323-24
camp at Fondrin's, 323 ; footmen
rejoin the army, 323 ; escape of
prisoners, 325 ; cruelty to Tories,
326; Campbell's kindness, 326, 351
352, 512, 531-32; anecdote, 326-27 ;
tardy marching, 324, 327 ; destitution
of food, 327-28, 346-47 ; plundering
denounced, 329-30, 532 ; execution
of Tories, 330-45, 391, 510-11, 539-40
544, 545, 551 ; fear of Tarleton, 345-
46, 516, 518, 544-45; hard march,
345-46 ; Mrs. McDowell, 347-48 ;
Major McDowell, 347-48 ; care of
wounded, 328, 344, 349; further es-
cape of prisoners, 355-56, 359; dis-
position of prisoners, 350, 352 357-60;
Bob Powell, 351 ; British accounts,
510, 516-19; Tate's account, 520-21
Shelby's accounts, 524-26, 540-46
559-73; Wm. Campbell's account,
526; Ar. Campbell's account, 527-29;
unknown account 529-31; Graham's
account, 546-51 ; Lenoir's account,
551-54; Sharp's account, 554-58

INDEX.

605

official report, 352 ; Campbell's
orders, 352, 531, 532; new troubles,
352-53; Green and Langum's es-
cape, 353-54; singular incident,
360-63 ; good words for victors,
374-76, 527, 532-33'. disaster to
British, 376-77 ; presage of indepen-
dence, 377; last of Campbell's men,
405 ; last survivor, 259 ; famous vic-
tory, 3 ; monument, 4; celebration,
181 5, 4, 322; celebration, 1855, 4,
256, 263 ; celebration, 1880, 4.
King, Col. Richard, mentioned, 143
King, William, cited, . 287, 580
Kirkland, Col. Moses, mentioned, 143

294. 5' 5
Knox, David, mentioned, . . 67
Knoxville treaty, of 1791, . 415
Kusack, Adam, mentioned, . 373
Kusick, of Sevier's men, men-
tioned, .... 275
Lacey, Col. Wm., sketch of, 463-64
mentioned, 3, 166, 168, 192, 193
207, 214-15, 219-22, 243-44, 249-50
254, 278, 279, 349, 500, 520, 537, 538
La Fayette, Gen., services, 395*98
Lafferty, Lieutenant, Tory, . 340
Laird, James, mortally wounded, 304
Lane, Lieut. Isaac, mentioned, 424
Lang, John, cited, . . 326
Langum, Thomas, escapes, 353~54
Lankford, Thomas, mentioned, 215
Lasefield, Jo., a Tory, . . 458
Lee, Col. Henry, cited, . 252
287, 296, 360, 374, 393, 394, 395, 533
Lee, Major, Tory, mentioned, 154
155, 294,483
Lee, Gen. R. E., cited, . 360
Ledbetter, Capt. George, 359, 475-76
Legare, Mrs. Thos., mentioned, 39-40
Lenoir, Gen. Wm., sketch of, 459
noticed, 149, 211, 221, 228,234,261
265, 266, 397, 304, 319, 324, 334,
389.
Lenoir, Capt. Wm. W., noticed, 5
334, 340, 433, 442, 448, 450, 551-54.

Lewis, Gen. Andrew, mentioned, 380

382
Lewis. Lieut. James M., noticed, 261
304, 457-58, 588
Lewis, Capt. Joel, noticed, . 247
260, 261, 304, 457-58, 461, 588
Lewis, Maj. Micajah, noticed, 247
261,304,388,389,456-58, 588
Lewis, Col. Walter, cited, . 402
Lillington, Gen. Alexander, men-
tioned, . . . 41, 476
Lincoln, Gen. Ben., mentioned, 21-41
Lindsay, James, mentioned, . 312
Linville, Wm., mentioned, . 183-84
Linville River, origin of name 183
Little Egg Harbor Expedition, 55-61
Logan, the Mingo Chief, . 391
Logan, Dr. John H., cited, . 5
102, 122, 126, 128, 214, 277, 292, 313
314, 322, 591.
Logan, Col. J. R., cited, . . 5
194, 202, 203, 233, 234, 267, 290, 292
313, 315, 322, 323, 324, 343, 354.
Logan, Joseph, John and Thos. 315
Logan, Wm., noticed, 233, 290, 315
Long, Col. A. B., cited, 149, 199, 265
Long, John, cited, . 282, 578
Long, Robert, mentioned, . 591
Lossing's Field Book, cited . 39
61, 102, 122, 157,289, 352, 375, 293

473-
Love, Col. Robert, cited, . 388

Love, Gen. Thomas, cited, 352, 473
Lowry, W. G. G., cited, . 5, 305
Lyles, Col. James, mentioned, 75, 504
Lyon, Humberson, killed, . 304
Lytle, Capt. Thomas, mentioned, 150

I5i- 153
Lytle, Mrs. Thomas, story of, 151-53
Mahoney, Michael, killed, . 303
Marion, Gen. Francis, mentioned,

41,45, 47, 143. 189

Martin, Daniel D., cited, . 343

Martin, Col. John, noticed, 215-16

Martin, Gen. Joseph, mentioned, 170

390, 415, 421, 428

606

INDEX.

Martin, Capt. Samuel, noticed, S6

257, 3^3, 478

Martin, Col. Wm, cited, . 5

189, 389, 390

Mathis, Drury, mentioned, . 313

Mattocks, Capt. John, killed, 031

257, 322, 479

Maxwell, Col. George, noticed, 418

Maxwell, Thomas, mentioned, 268

288, 334, 589-90

Mayson; Col. jas., mentioned, 47, 515

McBee, Silas, cited, . . 4

88, 224, 228, 229, 2^0, 275, 279, 307

320, 323, 324, 332, 333, 340.

McCafferty, Wm., mentioned, 368-69

McCall, Maj. James, mentioned, 85

104, 119, 162-64

McCall, Wm. A., cited, . . 5

178, 179, 180, 183, 184, 210, 234

McCulloch, John, cited, . 570

582, 583, 584

McCulloch, Lieut. Thomas, noticed,

304, 406
McDowell, Col. Chas. mentioned,
76, 78, 80-84, 86-88, 89-102, 103-22
136, 141-42, 143, 144, 168, 170, 172
173, 147-48, 150, 153, 180, 183, 184
186-89, 194, 204, 413, 47i, 473, 5°8
51 r, 520-65.
McDowell, Mrs. Ellen, mentioned, 306
McDowell, Harvey H., Sr., cited, 473
McDowell, Col. H. H., mentioned, 5
McDowell, Hunting John, men-
tioned, . . 150, 471, 473
McDowell, Gen. Joseph, shetch of,
471-73 ; of Quaker Meadows, 3, 80
92, 104, 119, 148, 150, 169, 184, 185
189, 195-96, 198, 203, 211, 214-15,
224, 226, 228, 232, 265, 278, 333, 334,
346. 347-48, 349. 471-73, 546", 520-65.
McDowell, Capt. Joseph, of Pleas-
ant Garden, . . 307, 472-73
McDowell, Hon. Joseph J., cited,

5-473
McDowell, Margaret men-
tioned, . . 347-48, 472-473

McDowell, Miss N. M., cited, . 5

161, 307

McDowell, Col. Silas, cited, . 5

151, 153, 156, 160

McElhaney, Wm., mentioned, 137

McFadden, Alexander, cited, . 88

100, 102
McFall, Arthur, mentioned, . 183

210, 334
McFall, John, mentioned, 333-34, 340
McGinnis, Lieut. John, mentioned, 255
300, 481, 510, 518
Mcintosh, Gen. Lachlan, men-
tioned, 25, 26, 27, 29, 30, 32, 40, 402
412.
Mcjunkin, Mrs. Jane, adventure, 87
McJunkiU) Maj. Joseph, mentioned, 74
75, 104, 119, 122, 129, 131, 143
McLean, Mrs. Clara Dargan, men-
tioned 4

McLean, Dr. Wm.r mentioned, 322
Means, Gen. J. K., cited, . 128
Mecklenburg and its Actors, work

on, designed, .... 6
Meredith, Capt. Wm., noticed, 460
Miles, Maj. Charles, mentioned, 166
Military operations exaggerated, 301
Miller, Andrew, captured, 204, 206
Miller, James, mentioned, . 154
Miller, Capt. James, noticed, 475"76
Miller, Hon. J. W. T„ cited, . 5
146, 203, 292, 313
Miller, Robert, wounded, . 302
Mills, Col. Ambrose, sketch of, 481-82
noticed, 80, 142, 293, 332, 335, 340

345,373, 5". 5l6> 5i8.
Mills, Maj. William, noticed, . 482
Mills, Col. Wm. Henry, noticed, 373
Mobley's settlement, mentioned, 43

504
Moffett, Capt. George, mentioned, 454

472
Moffett, Col. John, noticed, . 465
Monk's Corner, affair, 25, 63-66, 490-91
Moore, George H., LL.D., cited 5, 21 1
Moore, Col. James, mentioned, 433

INDEX.

607

Moore, Col. John, loyalist, . yy
78, 182, 290, 293-94, 298-99, 360

474-
Moore, Dr. M. A., cited, . . 5
128, 213, 219, 249-50, 255, 268, 308

313-
Moore, Capt. Patrick, loyalist, 85-87,
210, 298, 502
Moore, Capt. Sam., mentioned. in
Moore- Samuel, of York

Co., S. C, . . . . 273
Moore, Wm., noticed, . . 268
284, 304-305, 590
Morgan, Gen. Daniel, mentioned, 185
189, 286, 395, 521, 536, 542, 546
Morganton, N. C, named, . 185
Mullineaux, Thomas, men-
tioned, .... 3I3_I4
Murphy, Patrick, wounded, . 303
Musgrove, Beaks, noticed, 124-25

Musgrove, Maj. Edward, noticed, 123

125-26
Musgrove, Mary and Susan, no-
ticed 124-26

Musgrove's Mill, affair, . 104-22

504-5
Musick, Lewis, mentioned, 204, 206
Myddelton, CoLC. S., mentioned, 168
"Narrator," cited, . . 558-59

573. 574. 575. 583
Neal, Capt. Wm., mentioned, 222

405, 555. 557
Negroes join the British, . 42

Negroes seized and sold. . 43

Negroes at King's Mountain, 267

Nelson, Anson, mentioned, . 5
Nelson, Gen. Thomas, mentioned, 386
Newell, Col. Samuel, noticed, 248

250, 251, 268, 278, 304, 349, 387, 408
409, 587, 588-89.
Newland, Dr. J. C, cited, 5, 179

New Jersey Volunteers, men-
tioned, . . . 237, 481
New York Volunteers, . . 479
484, 487, 493, 500, 504
Neville, Jesse, cited, . . 83

Nichols, Capt. Bill, Tory . 446

Ninety Six, Fort, mentioned, 213

Ninham, Stockbridge Chief, 158,159
Norris, Jacob, cited, . 268, 591
North Carolina, in Revolution, 338

371.374
Oates, Capt. Edward, loyalist, 340
Old Fields, noticed, . . 437-43
Old Fort, mentioned, . . 151
Old Iron Works, Wofford's, 85, 90

Paine, Thomas, cited, - . ' . 294
Parsons, Mrs. Lewis E., cited, 5, 348
Patterson, Arthur, Sr., killed, 302

312-13
Patterson, Arthur, Jr., mentioned, 312

343
Patterson, Thomas and Wm.,

mentioned, . . . 312, 343
Patterson, Arthur, cited, . . 290
Patterson, E. A., cited, . . 343
Patton, Capt. Matthew, cited, 182

Patton, Robert, mentioned, . 150
Pearce, James, cited, . 268, 591
Pearis, Capt. Richard, mentioned, 72
Pearson, Mrs. R. M., cited, 5, 307

Pemberton, Capt. John, men-
tioned, . 418, 570, 579, 580
Percy, Rev. Dr., mentioned, 39, 40
Perdita, mentioned, . . 71
Perry, Ex-Gov. B. F., cited, . 5
83, 102, 139, 452
Peters, John, cited, . 570, 580
Phillips, James, killed, . . 304
Phillips, Lieut.-Col. John, loyalist, 143

294
Phillips, Samuel, mentioned, 169

Phillips, Joseph, cited, . . 268
320, 587, 591
Pickens, Gen. Andrew, mentioned, 43
47, 72, 162, 163, 164, 298, 452. 473
Pickens and the Battle of Cow-
pens, work on, designed, . 6
Pilot Mountain, mentioned, . 198
Plummer, Maj. Daniel, loyalist, 143
154, 155, 276, 294,483, 500
Polk, Col. Wm., mentioned, 479

608

INDEX.

Ponder, John, mentioned, ■. 233
Pool, J. T., mentioned, . . 5
Porter, Maj. James, noticed, 302, 475
Porter, Robert, mentioned, . 475
Porter, Wm., mentioned, 354, 475

Porterfield, Lieut.-Col. Charles,

mentioned, .... 41
Postell, Maj. John, mentioned, 47

Potts, Capt. John, killed, 97, 503

Powell, Bob, Tory desperado, 351

Powell, Elias, noticed, . 291,308
Preston, Gen. Francis, cited, 583, 585
Preston, Gen. John S., cited, . 4
5, 256, 263, 326, 328, 330 352, 398
Preston, Col. Thos. L., cited, 5, 398
Preston, Hon. Wm. C, cited, . 5

275» 393, 395. 39s* 559. 5^0-73
582-83.
Preston, Col. Wm. mentioned, 735

358, 381, 392, 412, 575
Price, Capt. Thomas, mentioned, j.24
Prince's Fort, mentioned, . 80-83

120, 501
Prince of Wales, American Vol-
unteers, . . . 496, 497
Prisoners, King's Mountain, . 350
352, 357-60
Purvis, Maj. John, mentioned, 47

Quakers generally Tories, . 239
Quaker Meadows, 180, 183-84, 347-48
Queen's Rangers, . 156-58,164,237
Quinn, Peter, mentioned, . 202
224, 363-64, 548
Rabb, Wm., killed, . 302, 322

Ramsey, Dr. J. G. M., cited, . 5
88, 89, 102, 120, 122, 144, 170, 174
176, 177, 178, 179, 189, 199, 204, 223
227, 255, 256, 273, 275, 277, 286, 289
3i6, 319, 332, 334, 340, 352, 473.
Ramsour's Mill fight, 298, 435, 499
Rawdon, Lord, mentioned, . 141
295, 299, 346, 373, 376
Read, Nathan, a Tory, . . 388
Rector, Mrs. Sallie, mentioned, 5

Redd, Maj. John, cited, . . 427
Reep, Adam, mentioned, . 146

Reeves and Goss, Tories, . 444
Reinhardt, W. M., cited, . 5, 147
Retaliation threatened by Corn-

wallis, . . . . 371-74
Revolutionary War, causes, . 17
Revolutionary War, progress, 17-20
Revolutionary, War, sanguinary

character, 123, 138-39, 140-41, 200
Reynolds, Lieut. Elisha, noticed, 462
Reynolds, James, E., mentioned 5
Rice, Edward, mentioned. . 429
Riddle, Col. James, a Tory, men-
tioned, . 437
Riddle, Capt. Wm., a Tory, no-
ticed, . . 437-44, 446, 461
Roach, Mrs. Edward, cited, 5, 131
Roberts, Colonel, Tory, . 433
Roberts, John H., cited, . 298
Roberts, Mrs. Margaret, cited, 323
Robertson, Maj. Charles, noticed, 84
87, 97, 118, 119, 421, 503
Robertson, Thomas, adventure, 265
Robertson, Wm., wounded, . 265
266, 302, 554
Robinson, J. DeLancey, cited, 5, 299
Robinson, Maj. Joseph, loyalist, 72
Robinson, Lieut. Wm. noticed, 424
Rockwell, Rev. E. F., cited, . 5

139- 315
Rocky Mount attacked, 141,502

Roebuck, Col. Benj., noticed, 193

269, 470
Ross, Captain, rescued, 437, 443

Ross, Dr. George, mentioned, 117, 503
Rusk, Gen. Thos. J., mentioned, 453
Russell, Lieut. George, mentioned, 424
Russell, Gen. Wm. Sr., mentioned, 398
Russell, Col. Wm. Jr., noticed, 287
406-7, 587-88
Rutherford, Gen. Griffith, men-
tioned, . . . 216, 433-34
Rutherford, Henry, cited, . 473
Rutherford, Maj. James, men-
tioned, .... 503
Rutledge, Gen. George, cited, 283
287,'4i8, 584

INDEX.

609

Rutledge, Gov. John, mentioned, 21
14, 30,41, 114, 122, 165 166, 168

336, 338.
Ryerson, Capt. Sam., sketch 0^479-80
mentioned, 280, 281, 286-87, 297
300, 321, 360, 492, 507, 509, 510

517, 5*9-
Saunders, Tory, of Cowpens, 223-24
Savannah, Americans repulsed, 19, 21
Sawyers, Col. John, noticed, 286

418, 569, 576-77
Sage, Rev. James H., cited, . 5

75, 76, 77, 82, 87, 88, 95, 96, 101, 102

115, 122, 239-42, 270, 293, 360-63.
Scotch Tories of Cross Creek, 432-33
Scott, Lieut.-Col.Wm., noticed, 34,494
Sevier, Col. G. W., cited, . . 5
267, 275, 282, 335
Sevier, Maj. James, cited, . 4

122, 159, 162, 174, 211, 221, 276, 279

303, 335- 4H.

Sevier, Col. John, sketch of, 418-22;

noticed, 84, 144, 170,413-14, 520-92 ;

King's Mountain, 3, 170-76, 214-15

243-44, 266, 279, 280, 282, 286, 335 ;

421, 520-92; letters to Shelby, 568

575-76; Cherokee expeditions, 390

241-22 ; Lecture on, cited, 326.

Sevier, Joseph, mentioned, . 282

Sevier, Capt. Robert, noticed, 170

266, 182, 303, 423

Sevier, Col. Val., noticed, 104,423

Shannon, Capt. Rob't, mentioned, 306

Sharp, Maj. Ben., cited, . . 4

229, 232, 246, 248, 262, 274, 278

282,308, 322, 323, 324, 334, 343,

345, 347, 473; King's Mountain

statements, 554-58, 587.

Sharp, John, cited, . . 579

Sharp, Wm. noticed, 129-31, 133, 269

Shelby, Gen. Evan, Sr., 188, 411, 419

Shelby, Maj. Evan, Jr., noticed, 281

286, 416-17, 566, 569. 570, 577, 579.

580, 581, 590.

Shelby, Col. Isaac, sketch of, 411-16;

Thicketty Fort, 84, 87-89, 413; Cedar

Spring, 89-102, 120, 238, 413, 503

506 ; Musgrove's Mill, 103-122, 413

504-506; mentioned, 118, 141, 142

143, 144, i49» 5"5 King's

Mountain, 3, 168, 17096, 204, 214-15

243-48, 252, 253, 272, 275, 277-78

280-83, 286, 291, 304, 307-8, 330-45

352, 413, 520-92 ; King's Mountain

statements, 524-28, 540-46, 559-73;

cited, 88, 98, 99, 102, 114, 120, 121

122, 169, 178, 188, 189, 194, 210, 211

215, 223, 227, 228, 235, 251, 252, 274

280, 281, 282, 316, 317, 318, 319, 327

339, 342, 344, 346, 347, 414, 473.

Shelby, Capt. Moses noticed, 171;

253, 304, 417, 569, 577, 578, 580, 583

589.

Shelby, Maj. Thomas H., cited, 5

122, 253, 275, 291

Sheppard, Col. Wm., noticed, 446

Shipp, Thomas, cited, . . 215

Sigman, Capt. John, mentioned, 474

Simcoe, Col. J. G., cited, 157, 158

Simms, Wm. Gilmore, cited, . 26

34, 37, 62, 102, 131, 277, 593

Singleton, Col. Rich'd, noticed, 81, 475

Siske, Daniel, killed, . 261, 304

Skeggs, John, wounded, . 304

Smart, John, Sr., killed, . . 302

Smart, John, Jr., noticed, . 302

Smith, Maj. Burwell, killed, . 96

97 503,

Smith, D. M., cited, . . 198

Smith, Edward, mentioned, 318,588

Smith, Linnaeus, cited, . . 358

Smith, Capt. Minor, noticed, . 261

304, 460, 588

Smith, Capt. Wm., noticed, . 87

99, ico, 101, 102

Smith, Wm., of Tenn., cited, 88

93, 100, 102, 108

Smythe, Gen., Alex., cited, 299, 342

Snodgrass, Maj. James, cited, . 4

268, 287, 584, 588

Snodgrass, Wm., cited, . . 318,

320, 322, 324, 588

610

INDEX.

South Carolina, Revolutionary events,
Attack on Charleston in 1776, 20;
troops at Savannah, 21 ; Provost's
invasion, 1779, 491 ; British inva-
sion, 1780, 20, 47, 484-86; Buford's
defeat, 41, 45, 46, 139, 282, 496-97 ;
Ramsour's affair, 298 ; Huck's de-
feat, 500 ; Cedar Spring, first attack,
73-75- 79' 8°. 83, 99, 101, 120;
Earle's Ford, 80-83, I2°» 5QI ; Cedar
Spring, second affair, 89-102, 120
238, 5°3; Rocky Mount, 141, 502;
Thicketty Fort, 84, 86-89, 5°2; Hang-
ing Rock, 141, 503; Carey's Fort,
141 ; Gate's defeat, 141, 504; Mus-
grove's Mill, 103-122, 504, 505 ;
Sumter's surprise, 116, 141, 504, 505;
King's Mountain, 168-352, 510;
Cornwallis' retreat, 363-71 ; Fish
Dam Ford, 464; Blackstock's, 74,
102, 468, 515; Hammond's Store,
298 ; Cowpens, 285-86, 529, 547 ;
Sumter's Rounds, 465 ; Dunlap's
defeat, 162-64 ; Biggin and Quinby,
464 ; Eutaw, 402 ; Fairlawn captured,
413-14; Incident, 416-17.
Sparks, Jared, cited, 9 . ,141
Spelts, John, cited, ... 4
184, 189, 190, 196, 21 1,. 221, 227, 284
291. 307, 308, 320, 328, 340, 342, 351
388, 473-
Spencer, Samuel, mentioned, • 338
Starritt, Benjamin, cited, . 267
276, 325, 328, 334, 335, 342, 393
Stedman, mentioned, . . 137,215
Steele, Wm„ killed, . . 303
Steen, Col. James, noticed, . .104
no, 119, 469-70
Stevenson, Lieut. Wm. Loyalist, 200
355-56, 480, 513, 519
Stinson, Capt. James, mentioned, 424
Stringer, Reuben, mentioned, 430-32
Sullivan, Gen. John, mentioned, 20
Sumter, Henry, mentioned, . 185
Sumter, Gen. Thomas, mentioned, 41
43» 45. 47; Huck's defeat, 500;

joined by Clarke, 85 ; detaches
Clarke, 87; Rocky Mount, 141, 502
504; Hanging Rock, 141, 503 ; re-
appears at Rocky Mount; 504 ; sur-
prised, 3, 116,141, 439, 504, 505;
mentioned, 136, 137, 143, 189, 254;
Williams' scheme, 165-68, 192, 221 ;
Blackstock's — Mrs. Dillard, 74, 102
468, 515; the Rounds, 465.

Sumter and his Men, work on,
designed, .... 6

Swain, Hon. D. L., cited, . 198

Tarleton, Col. Banastre, mentioned, 41
45, 46, 64, 139, 282, 487, 494, 496-97
505, 516, 518, 544-45 ; a sensualist,
67, 71, 330; attempted relief of Fer-
guson, 363-64, 367-68 ; hangs a
Whig, 373 ; cited, 34, 38, 39, 63, 65
67, 69, 139 141, 208, 213, 237, 281
291, 296, 299, 320, 321, 365, 369, 393

Tate, Maj. George, noticed, . 214
215, 296, 465, 520, 521

Tate, Col. S. McDowell, cited, . 5

149. l79
Taylor, Capt. Christopher, noticed, 178

284, 423-24. 572, 581

Taylor, Lieut. John, noticed, . 76

276, 300, 355-56, 480, 510, 513, 519

Taylor, Col. Thomas, mentioned, 168

Tecumseh, the Shatvanos Leader,

work on, designed, . . 6

Thicketty Fort, taken, 84,86-89, 99, 502
Thomas, Mrs. Jane, heroism, 73, 74
Thomas, Col. John, Sr., mentioned, 47
73, 127, [28, 136
Thomas, Col. John, Jr., mentioned,

73-75. 79« 80, 83, 99, 101, 143, 168
Thomson, Peter G., mentioned, . 5
Thompson, Absolom, cited, . 164
Thompson, Capt. James, cited, 83, 473
Thompson, Capt. John, mentioned, 468
Thompson, Richard, cited, . 115
Tinsley, Golding, noticed, no, 1 1 1
Tipton, Maj. Jonathan, noticed, 423
Toms, Mrs. Jane, cited, . . 206
Toney, Berry, mentioned, . . 441

INDEX.

611

Tories, adventures with, Johnston's,
85, 86 ; Jane Mcjunkin's, 86, 87 ;
Nancy Jackson's, 87 ; Paddy Carr's,
124-25; Clowney's, 126-28; Ken-
nedy's, 129-32; Hughes', 132-33;
Sharp's, 133; Woods', 133-34; Cul-
bertson's, 136-38; Graham and
Twitty's, 145-46; Reep's, 146; Gil-
mer's, 225-26, 228-31 ; Carr, the Tory
killer, 341; singular incident, 360-63;
classified, 338-42 ; Paine's view, 294;
some neutrals, 365-67 ; hung at
Kind's Mountain, 330-45, 391 ; re-
taliation threatened 371-74; ill us-
age of, by British, 370-71 ; sanguin-
ary warfare, 123, 138-39, 140-41,200
Tory or Loyalist leaders — see Bald-
win, Bates, Bibby, Biggerstaff, Boyd,
Branson, Brown, Browne, Chit-
wood, Clary, Coyle, or Cov/les,
Robert and William Cunningham,
Fanning, Fletchall, Fraser, Gibbs,
Gilkey, Gist, Grimes, Gunn, Hamil-
ton, Harrison, Hawsey, Hill, Hobbs,
Hopkins, Horton, Innes, Lasefield,
Lee, McFall, Mills, Moore, Nichols,
Oates, Pearis, Plummer, Riddle,
Roberts, Townsend, Waters, Wells,
Wilson, and Wright.
Townsend, Captain, a Tory, 483, 514
Trigg, Mrs. Mary A., mentioned, 5
Tuckasegie Ford, mentioned, 192

Turner, Lieut.-Col. W. T., men-
tioned, . . . 143, 294
Turmbull, Col. George, men-
tioned, 141, 373,484, 502, 503, 504
Twiggs, Col. John, mentioned, 341
Twitchell, A. H., cited, 5, 95, 97, 102
T witty, Anthony, incident, 204-206
Twitty's Ford, mentioned, . 203
Twitty, Sam, cited, . . 203
Twitty, Susan, heroism, . 145 46
Twitty, Dr. T. B., cited, . 5
146, 149. 161, 203, 206, 222
Twitty, William, noticed, 145-46, 259
Twitty, Wm. L., cited, . . 5

146, 149, 161, 194, 198, 199, 203, 206
259, 265, 266, 302, 314, 317, 333, 340

345- 354-
Vance, Capt. David, sketch of, 474
cited, 104, 119, 150, 198, 203, 211
214, 224, 226, 228, 232, 252, 473.
Vance, Maj. I. K., cited, . 69

Vance, Thomas D., cited, . 5, 179
Verner, Major, killed, 65-66, 490-91
Walker, Felix, mentioned, . 326
Walker, Col. John, noticed, 325-26

507
Walker, N. F., cited, 5, 93, 100, 102
Walker, Samuel R., cited, . 326
Walker, Dr. Thomas, mentioned, 379

380
Walker, Wm. cited, . . 149
Wallace, A. D. K., cited, 5, 149, 203
Wallace, Hon. Daniel, cited, 131
132, 133, 269, 286
Walters, Abagail, mentioned, 444
Walters, a Whig youth, . 440
Warfield, Mrs. Elizabeth W., men-
tioned 5

Washington, Gen. George, men-
tioned, . 22, 27, 51-55, 374, 527
Washington, James H. R., cited, 271
Washington, Mrs. J. H. R., cited, 271
Washington, Col. Wm., men-
tioned, . 41, 63, 286, 298, 490
Watauga Fort attacked, . 420

Waters, Capt. a Tory, . . 298
Waters, Margaret Musgrove,

cited, 126

Waters, Capt. P. M., cited, . 126
Watkins, John F., mentioned, 5

Watson, Maj. Patrick, noticed, 476
Watson, WTm., cited, . . 198
Watson, Wm., killed, . . 302

Watts, Col. James W., cited, . 69
Wayne, Gen. Anthony, men-
tioned, .... 396
Webb, Maj. T. S. cited, . .179
Webster, Col. James, mentioned, 66
Weir, Capt. John, noticed, . 306
Weir, Col. Samuel, noticed, . 424

612

INDEX,

Wells, A. J., cited, . . 94, 134
Wells, Zach, mentioned, . 439
440, 443, 445-46.
Wemyss, Col. James, mentioned, 373
Western Monthly Magazine, cited, 88

122

Wetzel, Lewis, mentioned, . 50

Wheeler, Col. J. H., cited, . . 5

76, ro2, 188, 203, 204, 228, 265, 266

268, 275,436, 359.473. 55.1-

Whelchel, Dr. John, cited, . 182

192, 277, 290

White, Col. A. W., mentioned, . 41

White, Ben, mentioned, . 268, 590

White, Hon. Hugh L., mentioned, 5

422
White, Capt. Isaac, and Lieut.

James, noticed, 478

White, Capt. Joseph, mentioned, 149

199. 257, 474
White, Sprague, mentioned, . 5
White, Wm., cited, . 290, 349

Whitford, alias Rousselet, Capt.

J. R. cited, . . . 27, 393
Whitson, J. C, cited, . . 5, 184
Whitson, Mrs. R. C, mentioned, 5
Whitzell's Mills, affair, . 391-93
Wiley, C. H., cited, . . 179

Wilfong, Maj. Geo., mentioned, 436-37
Wilkinson's Memoirs, cited, . 314
Williams, Fort, mentioned, 69, 515
Williams, Col. James, sketch of, 465-67,
mentioned, 43, 69 ; Mu'sgrove's
Mill, 104-122 ; mentioned, 141
143, 144, 165-68, 191, 192. 214-15
217-18,221, 226, 234,500, 520-92;
letter to Gates, 520 ; King's Moun-
tain, 3, 243-44, 268, 270, 276, 277
278, 279, 284-85, 297, 299, 307
323-24 ; his sons killed, 468.
Williams, Col. Joseph, noticed, 216, 433
Williams, Col. O. H., mentioned 392
Williams, Capt. Samuel, men-
tioned, . . . 424, 581
Williamson, Gen. Andrew, men-
tioned, . 40, 43, 47, 72, 463

Willoughby, Mathew, cited- . 583
Willoughby, Lieut. Wm., cited, 581
Wilson, Captain, Loyalist, . 340
5TI, 516, 518
Wilson, Col. George, cited, . 5
95, 102, 122, 230, 232, 247, 275, 414
Winchester, Gen. James, cited, 582
Winn, Col. Richard, mentioned, 168

504
Winsmith. Hon. John, cited, 76,

100, 102

Winston, Maj. Joseph, sketch of,

454-56; mentioned, 3, 119, 183, 184

214-15,234,245, 279, 349, 413.434

523. 547, 549, 55o. 552-53. 554-
Winterbotham's America, cited, 380
Wisconsin Historical Society, men-
tioned, .... 4
Witherspoon, David, noticed, 261
308, 444, 461
Witherspoon, Col. J. H., cited, 5

261, 308

Witherspoon, John, noticed, . 444

461,586-87

Withrow, Capt. James, noticed, 199

266, 475
WofTord, Capt. Joseph, mentioned, 99
Wofford, Col. Wm , noticed, 181-83
WofTord, Gen. W. S., mentioned, 5
Wood, Col. James, mentioned, 379
Wood, Capt. Samuel, noticed, 474
Woodfin, Miss Anna M., cited, 5, 307
Woodfin, Hon. N. W., cited, . 473
Woodford, Gen. Wm., mentioned,

23, 28, 40
Woods, killed by Tories, . 133-34
Worth, John L., cited, . .5, 287
Wright, Gideon and Hezekiah,

mentioned, . . . 433
Wright, Maj. James, Georgia

Tory, .... 486

Yates, Jesse, mentioned, . . 5

Young, Robert, shoots Ferguson, 275

Young, Maj. Thomas, cited, . 129

222, 246, 269-70, 277, 293, 308, 328

342.

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Full text of "King's mountain and its heroes : history of the battle of King's mountain, October 7th, 1780, and the events which led to it"

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